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April 2007 Archives
Record cold in April for most of US
A climate skeptic's guest post: Why David Evans bet against Brian Schmidt over global warming - I devoted six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian government to estimate carbon emissions from land use change and forestry (Google on "FullCAM"). When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty conclusive, but since then new evidence has weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause. I am now skeptical. As Lord Keynes famously said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" (04/30/07)
Global warming lessons must be balanced: Trustee - By Sheila Reynolds - If teachers are going to use the film An Inconvenient Truth in the classroom, they should also have access to another documentary which challenges the Academy-award winning movie’s premise, says a local school trustee. (04/30/07)
Stupidity
What Global Warming Split? - The New York Times analyzes its own environmental poll, and concludes, "Public Remains Split on Response to Warming." But on the poll questions (PDF file) that relate to actual proposals in Congress, the public isn't split at all. For example: (04/30/07)Even more stupidity
Al Gore Says Breast Feeding Deters Global Warming - By Biff Scuzzy - NEW YORK - Former vice president Al Gore believes breast feeding can play a significant role in deterring the rise of global warming. Speaking yesterday afternoon at the Earth Institute's annual solar picnic in New York's Central Park, Mr. Gore declared, "If one out of two mothers in developed countries were to breast feed their children, the mean temperature of the Earth could be lowered one degree by the year 2090." (04/30/07)Storm guru: Oceans, not CO2, cause warming - Hardly mainstream, Gray also expects global cooling in a few years - DENVER - Challenging the climate science community, noted hurricane forecaster William Gray said that global ocean currents, not human-produced carbon dioxide, are responsible for global warming, and the Earth may begin to cool on its own in five to 10 years. (04/30/07)
Other sides to warming - By Kenneth R. Ashley - An individual from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration surfaced recently at one of our high schools to further the alarmist position on global warming so popular these days. Susan Solomon even out-alarmed Al Gore! (04/30/07)
GOP panel agrees: Warnings of global warming overdone - Group discusses Al Gore's film; few have seen it - By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News - The 12 or so people, lawmakers included, who showed up to hear the Republican Study Committee of Colorado discuss global warming Friday found politics to be just as hot. (04/30/07)
A Global Warming Skeptic's Primer on Propaganda - By Dan Calabrese - Can a science ignoramus make a compelling case against the supposed scientific super-consensus on global warming? Watch me. (04/30/07)
The Global Warming Debate - By Tom DeWeese - As the skeptics score points, the political climate starts to change - With great fanfare, in March, Al Gore took Capitol Hill like a conquering hero as he testified on Global Warming before both houses of Congress. Fresh from conquests at the Academy Awards where his adoring Hollywood elites showered him with coveted golden statues for spreading their favorite propaganda, Gore was determined to turn his personal conquest into draconian federal law and ultimate human misery. (04/30/07)
Climate change and the human factor - Re: Global warming debate - My World Book Encyclopedia copyrighted 1969 includes these words under the heading Changes in Climate: "For the past 10,000 years, the general trend has been toward warmer and rainier climates in middle latitudes. There have been relatively short periods of 50 to 100 years when the climate became colder. From about 1850 to 1950, there was a small trend toward slightly higher temperatures... Average temperatures became slightly colder in the mid-1900s. No one knows if this trend will continue." (04/30/07)
Tories know bulb ban is baloney - By Ezra Levant - Fading starlet Sheryl Crow has taken to politics to extend her career. She has wrapped up a tour of college campuses where she plays some songs and talks about global warming. (04/30/07)
Hot Air in the U.N. Security Council - "Weather of Mass Destruction" and other terrors. - By Brett D. Schaefer - As knowledge increases, we have seen U.N. estimates for temperature and sea-level increases decline. However, even under worst-case scenarios for global warming predicted by the U.N., it will be decades before global warming results in significant warming, noteworthy sea-level increases, or other consequences that could contribute to conflict or instability. These projected harms are not pressing threats requiring immediate attention by the Security Council. (04/30/07)
US, China Criticize Climate Report Calling for Quick Action on Global Warming - BANGKOK, Thailand - The US and China want to water down a key climate change report being discussed this week by scientists at a Climate Change meeting in Thailand. (04/30/07)
Oddball schemes to fix global warming get thumb's down - Unconventional schemes for tackling global warming by installing a giant sunshade in orbit, sowing the seas with iron and scattering sulphur into the upper atmosphere are set to be bluntly rejected by UN experts this week. (04/30/07)
Sophmore unknowingly reveals how she has been indoctrinated...
Getting personal on global warming - BY CLAIRE GIANOTTI - Claire Gianotti is a sophomore at Friends Academy in Locust Valley - To most of my generation, global warming isn't that terrifying. - You can tell teenagers that rising sea levels will cause water to pour into the streets of Manhattan in 50 years, but this can't compete for attention when students are massacred on college campuses, American soldiers are killed in Iraq and genocide is raging in Africa. (04/29/06)A supposedly unbiased fluffy look at Global warming
The Truth About Global Warming - Steve Baskerville Reporting - (CBS) Global warming: Is it a man-made crisis that could spell doom and a serious moral issue? Or is it a normal, inevitable and cyclical process of nature? Scientists have not come to consensus on these questions, and their answers may have sweeping consequences for how we live in Chicago and surrounding communities. (04/28/06)Global warming just a bunch of hot air - I have read quite a bit and watched TV about global warming theories. As a retired scientist I am of the opinion that global warming is just a lot of hot air. I believe stories about global warming should be printed on opinion pages rather than as regular news in a newspaper. (04/28/06)
No scientific basis for global warming contention - The global-warming mania continues with more and more hype and less and less thinking. (04/27/07)
Hilarious!
"Wipe Out" Global Warming with Dr. Sheryl Crow's Plan - Satire by John Lillpop - Who would have imagined that the svelte, beautiful, and musically gifted Sheryl Crow would be capable of profundity of intellect not witnessed since Albert Einstein passed? (04/26/07)
Is Global Warming a Sin? - Alexander Cockburn - In a couple of hundred years historians will be comparing the frenzies over our supposed human contribution to global warming to the tumults at the latter end of the tenth century as the Christian millennium approached. (04/26/07)
Accusations That Global Warming Is a Rip-Off - People who are spending big money trying to cut their contributions to global warming may be getting ripped off. The Financial Times reports corporations and individuals are coughing up millions of dollars on carbon-offset projects that are in some cases worthless, and in others make little if any difference to the environment. (04/26/07)
Keep a cool head in the global warming debate - By Scott Smith, for the Capital - A recent episode of the popular TV drama "House" centered on the psychological phenomenon of human hysteria. In the show, people were led to believe certain physical symptoms indicated the presence of a serious illness and, true to human nature, many people then began to experience them exactly as described. While it was greatly exaggerated, the show was entertaining and provocative in its portrayal of human suggestibility. In that context, and with the celebration of Earth Day just a few days ago, it would seem like a good time to consider what appears to be a growing alarmism about climate change, or human-generated global warming. Recently, some people have even attributed storms and other normal weather phenomenon to global warming, and dire predictions have been made about the future. However, even though pretty much everyone agrees that we need to be good stewards of Earth and environmental awareness may be at an all time high, there still appear to be many significant, unanswered questions about the entire concept of climate change. (04/26/07)
Global warming debate 'irrational': scientists - Stephanie Stein - The current debate about global warming is "completely irrational," and people need to start taking a different approach, say two Ottawa scientists. Carleton University science professor Tim Patterson said global warming will not bring about the downfall of life on the planet. (04/26/07)
Global warming goes down the toilet - Mick Swasko - Don't peg me as a horrible person, but I am not ultra passionate about global warming. I've been yelled at for throwing plastics in the paper bin, and paper in the trashcan. I leave lights on when I leave the room, and let the water run full blast when I am shaving. I am not proud of this. In fact, I am probably one of the people that the environmentally conscientious will shout "I told you so" at when we are all becoming one with the Atlantic and Pacific. I make no excuses for my wasteful behavior. However, I believe myself, just like many others who revel in giving Mother Earth a black eye, don't take the warnings as seriously because of the ludicrous arguments for and against the phenomenon every day. (04/26/07)
Global warming hits classrooms - By Saffron Howden - PRIMARY school students will be compelled to learn about global warming as part of the curriculum under plans being considered by the State Government. The NSW Board of Studies is reviewing the kindergarten to Year 6 science and technology syllabus and will look at introducing specific classes on climate change. The move comes as Australia's leading scientific research body yesterday called for the issue to be taught in primary schools. (04/26/07)
Now here's a "newsworthy" item. It's so important they had to get a photographer to write it!
C-G 8th grader rides to fight global warming - GREENWOOD - "We only have one planet, don't ruin it! Save the world today - get rid of global warming." That was the message a Greenwood Elementary Middle School eighth-grader spread during his nine-mile commute to school Tuesday. Scott O'Dell, 14, wants to stop global warming and he's starting by changing his own habits. (04/26/07)New Global Warming Film Confronts Al Gore - By Michelle Oddis - Tuesday night was the last of three screenings across the country for the Pacific Research Institute's (PRI) film An Inconvenient Truth, or a Convenient Fiction. PRI teamed up with Steven Hayward, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute to create this rebuttal to Gore's Academy Award winning Powerpoint presentation An Inconvenient Truth. It should be required viewing for those who claim they are "green" (and even those who are only a little queasy). (04/26/07)
Turkey : Global warming benefits sock producers - Global warming might be a teaser for scientists across the world but cotton growers and exporters are reaping good results from this environmental hazard. According to the Kenan Koc, President, Socks Manufacturers Association, demand for woolly and acrylic synthetic socks has decreased and there is a shout for cotton socks in market. (04/26/07)
A realistic look at global warming and the environment - Aaron Schumacher - Before you read the crux of this viewpoint, I must point out that it does not contain gaudy statistics to impress you or make speculative claims about the state of the environment in years to come. This viewpoint does not contain lofty ideas about how to fix the problem of increased greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, nor does it take sides in the public debate currently going on in this country about what to do about global warming. This viewpoint strives solely to explain the need for a new course of action on how to fix this issue from a practical perspective. (04/26/07)
Cool heads needed on global warming - Senator Cory Bernardi - Winston Churchill is attributed to having said, "A lie gets halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." This statement could readily be applied to the current one-sided debate on man's contribution to climate change. Climate change is the latest incarnation in a 30-year-long claim that mankind is destroying the planet. What began as the hole in the ozone layer, became global warming caused by greenhouse gasses, and is now a war on carbon emissions, which has been neatly repositioned under the "catchall" banner of climate change. (04/26/07)
UK vineyards helped by global warming - English wines, once the butt of mocking jokes by connoisseurs, enjoyed their best harvest for a decade as global warming created ideal conditions for grapes. Three million bottles were produced last year, up 50 per cent on 2005, and with more farmers diversifying into vineyards, the acreage has risen by a third. (04/26/07)
Industry caught in carbon "smokescreen" - By Fiona Harvey and Stephen Fidler in London - Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on "carbon credit" projects that yield few if any environmental benefits. (04/25/07)
Will Media Report Global Warming 'Carbon Credit' Fraud? - By Noel Sheppard - It's conceivable that years from now, America's media will be reporting one of the biggest frauds in history: the idea that a wealthy person, for instance, soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore, can purchase "carbon credits" to offset his lavish lifestyle making him quote "carbon neutral." Given the media's love affair with the former vice president as well as advancing man-made global warming hysteria, few American press members have dared to expose this hoax for what it is. (04/25/07)
Sheryl Vs. Charmin - by Matthew Bastian - If the global warming alarmists really want us to start listening to their gloomy projections, it would behoove them to find better spokespeople. Quickly. (04/25/07)
Global Warming Update - The Wicked Witch of Wherever melting because of global warming, destroying us all! It's a pretty interesting stack of global warming stuff today, and I actually had this story last week because, as you know, I don't do the global warming stuff every day because I don't want people to get worn out on it. So the stack just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. (04/25/07)
Winners in Global Warming - A host of businesses are poised to profit from the drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions. - By Jim Ostroff and Laura Steele - It's clear that greening the U.S. economy will cause pain for some businesses - especially electric utilities and automakers. These industries stand to bear the brunt of state and federal efforts to fight global warming by placing regulatory caps on the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) pumped into the atmosphere. Utilities and autos together produce about 55% of these gases. (04/25/07)
At Witz' End: I Don't Buy Global Warming - The Car Connection - We must be the biggest global-warming doubters on the car planet, because the commentary keeps rolling in from our senior opinionistes. This week, Gary Witzenburg tells us, "In my opinion, global warming is nonsense, hype, and overreach." (04/25/07)
Al Gore and the religious right in agreement...
In warming world, time to reconsider the clothesline - In an age of global warming, this low-tech device may be poised to stage a modest comeback. By Marilyn Gardner Christian Science Monitor - On the first warm Saturday in April, our neighborhood hums with springtime activity. Flowering trees are bursting into glorious pink bloom as families push strollers and walk dogs. One man rakes while his wife plants pansies around a lamppost. And at the end of the street, a woman hangs shirts and blouses on a backyard clothesline. Could there be a surer sign of good weather than that? Hers is one of the last clotheslines in the neighborhood, a quaint reminder of an era before dryers reigned supreme. But now the low-tech clothesline may be poised to stage a modest comeback. In an age of global warming, lists of energy-saving tips routinely include suggestions such as "Hang clothes outdoors to dry when possible." (04/25/07)Politics, science best kept separate - Curt Parrott - Many thanks to guest columnists Dan Nebert ("Global warming related to our Earth's natural cycles," April 8) and Thomas Lowell ("Global warming no longer a question," April 16) for addressing global warming in a gentlemanly and non-political fasion. But it may be too late for that. It is already a political issue. What was once a discussion of scientific differences of opinion may now be inseparable from domestic and geopolitical agendas and their respective ideologies. (04/25/07)
Al Gore's Army Brings Global Warming Propaganda to a Town Near You - By Noel Sheppard - Be afraid. Be very afraid. Soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore is training people to give his global warming slide presentation at places like "schools, Rotary clubs and nursing homes" around the country. I kid you not. As reported by USA Today: Meet, no, not Al Gore, but Gary Dunham, 71, a grandfather from Texas who was the first of 1,000 Americans Gore trained to deliver his Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth slide show to schools, Rotary clubs and nursing homes around the nation. Scared yet? Well, brace yourselves, for it's much worse than you can imagine: Two weeks ago, the last 150 of this hand-picked crew arrived here - paying their own way for everything but food - to go through a two-day seminar starring Gore but effectively led by Dunham and a few other graduates of the former vice president's global-warming boot camp. To date, The Climate Project has drawn everyone from Wal-Mart workers to Cameron Diaz. And though the 1,000 mark has been reached, "we keep hearing whispers that (Gore) might do more," project director Jenny Clad says. "I wouldn't call this final." Scary stuff. Though seemingly a new revelation, Time magazine reported on this in January... (04/25/07)
C4 film denying global warming under fire - IAN JOHNSTON - A CONTROVERSIAL Channel 4 documentary that claimed global warming was not happening has come under fresh attack with a point-by-point rebuttal of some of its key claims being sent to Ofcom, the television regulator. The 90-minute The Great Global Warming Swindle, described as persuasive even by its detractors, claimed that any rise in temperatures was "mild, beneficial" and not caused by humans. (04/25/07)
A global warming script written by Big Oil? - WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The recent explosion of celebrities offering the rest of us utterly nonsensical direction on how we should change our behavior in the global warming age can only have one explanation: "An Inconvenient Truth" producer Laurie David, recording artist Sheryl Crow and third-generation scion Robert Kennedy are secretly on Big Oil's payroll. How else to make sense, for example, of the two women's view that toilet paper should be rationed to one square per trip to the potty. In response, politicians, environmental experts and media opinionators left and right spent Monday poo-pooing such a goofy idea. Even far-left monster mouth Rosie O'Donnell got into the scatological act as David and Crow became worldwide laughingstocks. (04/25/07)
Sheryl Crow's rider demands for her "Stop Global Warming College Tour" reportedly included four buses, six cars and three tractor trailers for her entourage. - The singer, who travelled on a bio-diesel bus for two weeks during the tour, is said to have made the environmentally unfriendly request to ensure her staff travelled in comfort. (04/25/07)
The New Math on Global Warming - By Guest: Dennis Avery - The UN climate change panel told us in 2001 that human-emitted CO2 might drive the planet's average temperature upward by 5.8 degrees C -a bigger average warming than the world has had in the past 100,000 years. The UN's 2007 report scales the possible overheating back a bit, to a maximum of 4.5 degrees - still a very large warming. But wait! The environmental movement is now conceding that the earth has a natural, moderate climate cycle. Jon Coifman of the Natural Resources Defense Council said recently on the Hannity and Colmes TV show, "The earth has natural temperature and climate cycles. Nobody has disputed that." (04/25/07)
Hello kettle, this is pot...
Greenwashing Fears Raised by Berkeley-BP Initiative - By Michelle Chen - Fresh ties are budding between public universities and a leading oil company, seeding fears that industry is profiting from climate-change research at the expense of scientific integrity. (04/24/07)Inhofe dares Hollywood to take warming pledge - By Eric Pfeiffer, THE WASHINGTON TIMES - A leading skeptic of global-warming science is challenging celebrity activists such as Al Gore and Sheryl Crow to lower their "carbon footprint" to the same level as the average American by Earth Day in April 2008.
"I simply believe that former Vice President Al Gore and his Hollywood friends who demand we change the way we live to avert this over-hyped 'crisis' not only talk the talk, but walk the walk," said Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican. (04/24/07)Backpedaling Bimbo Alert...
Global Warming Bimbos: Sheryl Crow Now Says It Was All a Joke - By Gene Byrd - Public humiliation slammed rocker Sheryl Crow fairly well on Monday. One half of the 'Global Warming Bimbos used her forum to promote her newest scatter brained idea, using only one square of toilet paper per bathroom break. She was lampooned on every cable channel; every radio program and pretty much anyone with a voice slammed the rocker. It didn't go over well. Predictably - she went with the 'it was a joke' excuse. I'll admit - I thought it was a joke when I first read it - how could anyone be so foolish - but as I re-read her blog she had other items that couldn't have been humor. (04/24/07) Nice try.Global Warming Progress? Not For All the Coal in China - According to Faith Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, the developed world's anti-global warming efforts are essentially futile absent a strong Chinese commitment. "Without having China on board," she told the Journal, "without having them play a significant role, all these efforts, none of it, will make any sense." (04/24/07)
INTERVIEW-Branson challenges US to fight global warming - By Kyle Peterson - CHICAGO, April 24 (Reuters) - British billionaire entrepreneur and environmentalist Richard Branson is putting his giant green footprint on global aviation and he wants the White House to follow his example. Branson said the United States, the world's leading source of gases like carbon dioxide, must do more to cut its emissions. (04/24/07) Yawn...Convert your airline fleet to hydrogen first, then come talk to U.S. Until then, go play on the runway.
'Today' Highlights Commuter Tax As Solution To Global Warming - By Geoffrey Dickens - NBC's environmental correspondent Anne Thompson cited global warming as a primary reason to implement a new commuter tax or as she euphemistically called it, "congestion pricing," on drivers. As incoming traffic passed by her on the Holland Tunnel the Today show's Thompson began her report this way: "Good morning, Meredith. Look behind me and you'll see this is what congestion pricing seeks to reduce. The 50,000 cars a day that rumble into Manhattan through the Holland Tunnel contributing to global warming. Now global warming has long been on the environmentalist radar but today its taking center stage in our political debate." (04/24/07)
New podcast news! Global Warming News - Regular 3-minute podcast briefings on the 'global warming' news they don't want you to hear. Your host: Professor Philip Stott. Thanks to the JunkMan for finding this one. (04/24/07) Permanent link added in right margin.
No immediate threat to Himalayan glacier due to global warming: Expert - From our ANI Correspondent - Jammu, Apr 24: An Indian glaciologist has claimed that there is no imminent threat to the Himalayan glaciers in the wake of global warming, unlike warning by international climate scientists. Climate scientists said last week that global warming could wipe out large areas of glaciers in the Himalayas and surrounding highlands, threatening livelihoods across much of Asia. But R.K. Ganjoo, Director, Regional Centre for Field and Research on Himalayan Glaciology of Jammu University, dismissed it, saying there were not good enough evidences to show that the glaciers were retreating because of global warming. (04/24/07)
Backpedaling Bimbo Alert...
Global Warming Bimbos: Sheryl Crow Now Says It Was All a Joke - By Gene Byrd - Public humiliation slammed rocker Sheryl Crow fairly well on Monday. One half of the 'Global Warming Bimbos used her forum to promote her newest scatter brained idea, using only one square of toilet paper per bathroom break. She was lampooned on every cable channel; every radio program and pretty much anyone with a voice slammed the rocker. It didn't go over well. Predictably - she went with the 'it was a joke' excuse. I'll admit - I thought it was a joke when I first read it - how could anyone be so foolish - but as I re-read her blog she had other items that couldn't have been humor. (04/24/07) Nice try.Global warming: Blame it on negative thoughts now - Express News Service - SAS Nagar, April 23: Not pollution but man's negative thoughts are causing global warming. This novel explanation for the major crisis facing the world community on the environmental front was put forward by a representative of Brahma Kumaris International Organization (Mohali branch) at a seminar organised on "Global warming inside out" on World Earth Day-2007 at Sukh Shanti Bhawan Phase-7. (04/24/07)
Warning signs: One woman's crusade to bring global warming home to Detroit - Margaret Hetherman got tired of explaining to 4-year-old Lilly that there just wasn't enough snow this winter to go sledding and decided to start a billboard campaign against global warming. (04/24/07) Why not just tell the kid that Bush melted the snow and killed all the polar bears?
Experts discourage extreme global warming fixes - A mock volcano or artificial 'trees' would create risks, they say - By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press - WASHINGTON - When climate scientist Andrew Weaver considers the idea of tinkering with Earth's air, water or sunlight to fight global warming, he remembers the lessons of a favorite children's book. In the book, a cheese-loving king's castle is infested with mice. So the king brings in cats to get rid of the mice. Then the castle's overrun with cats, so he brings in dogs to get rid of them, then lions to get rid of the dogs, elephants to get rid of the lions, and finally, mice to get rid of the elephants. (04/24/07)
I really don't have any answers on the global warming issue - Foster, Jim - Editorial - I nearly had a catastrophe in the shower (try not to picture me naked in the shower. Too many marriages out there are in trouble already). I dropped the soap. Now dropping a bar of soap isn't all that dangerous unless you are in a prison communal shower, but what happened after almost caused my demise. My curly locks were an inch-deep in shampoo at the time. Since I no longer use Johnson's No-Tears Baby shampoo, my eyes were tightly closed. When I bent over to grope for the Ivory, I backed into the pull out-push in valve and shut the water off. (04/24/07)
UBS Global Warming index - UBS to launch first Global Warming index - The first Global Warming index is to be launched this week by UBS, allowing businesses most affected by the uncertainty of climate change - from ice-cream salesmen to makers of winter coats - to hedge their profits against it in a simple and transparent fashion. (04/24/07)
Heckler: Cool it! There's too much hot air over global warming - ALL this talk of the environment is starting to get old. In saying this, I don't mean to establish myself as indifferent to the troubled state of our world. I don't consider myself morally challenged; I gladly participated in Earth Hour, and even intend to switch off my television during the next; my showers usually don't exceed two minutes; I almost always refuse a plastic bag if I'm capable of cradling the items I purchased in my arms; and I've not yet earned my learner's permit. But as much as I am thrilled to continue in my environmentally conscious ways, the cynic in me - which is also my voice of reason - cannot help but mistrust an emerging cult of environmentalists who insist on giving human beings all the blame for what they call "global warming". (04/24/07)
Not a security threat - To say global warming is serious has become a politically correct statement in this age. But some people have moved the issue into the category of security. (04/24/07)
Turkey : Bahar's White Umbrella, a protection from global warming - Bahar Korcan, the famous designer, during the "Real Brand Anadolu" conference in Hatay, said that fashion has to reflect the culture, history and lifestyle of the country. For that, one needs to be original and creative. (04/24/07)
Senator Inhofe Opening Statement - Hearing on the Supreme Court’s Decision in Massachusetts V. EPA - Thank you for having this hearing today Madame Chairman, so that we may examine the recent Supreme Court decision that, more than any other in recent years, usurps Congressional authority. It represents judicial activism at its worst, where five justices chose to place their own policy concerns above the rule of law. (04/24/07)
The Orange Grove: Mars needs you, Mr. vice president
The red planet's climate appears to be warming. Cue a familiar scapegoat - By TIBOR R. MACHAN - The R.C. Hoiles Professor of Business Ethics and Free Enterprise at Chapman University is an adviser to Freedom Communications Inc. Rumor has it that there is a script already making the rounds, with the working title, "A Very Inconvenient Truth, One Only Mr. Gore Could Prove." And it will demonstrate, supported by the wide consensus of the universe's climate scientists – and with the soon-to-be-expanded United Nation's bureaucratic community in tow – that, yes, the warming of the climate on Mars is caused by, well, human beings. It turns out that these sneaky folks have been secretly disgorging in the Martian atmosphere carbon dioxide brought from Earth, in the hopes they could disguise their role in Earth's global warming. (04/23/07)Global Warming Consensus Watch, Volume I - Welcome to the first edition of the PowerBlog's new GLOBAL WARMING CONSENSUS WATCH, where we keep you up-to-date on the latest news about the ever-strengthening, nearly invincible consensus that climate change is 1) unnatural and 2) a massive catastrophe waiting to happen. (04/23/07)
Petition shows scientists reject global warming - Tim Miller's letter to the editor in the Lodi News-Sentinel, April 10, 2007, arguing for human-caused global warming, illustrates, at best, the blind faith and dogmatism of environmentalists and, at worst, downright dishonesty. Miller writes, "The number of scientists qualified to have an expert opinion is in the thousands. Those who doubt human-caused global warming might fill a walk-in closet." Either Miller is oblivious to the fact that over 17,000 American scientists have signed a petition promulgated by the Petition Project (http://www.oism.org) rejecting the notion that global warming is human-caused and urging the U.S. government to reject the Kyoto accord, or Miller has simply chosen to ignore it because it is "an inconvenient truth" for his position. (04/23/07)
And now, a final word to my global-warming critics - I am stupefied by the certainty with which otherwise rational people cite forecasts about global warming. Indeed, the irony seems completely lost on them that their belief in predictions about the looming catastrophes of global warming is no more sound than the faith Christians have in prophecies about the looming Armageddon of Judgment Day, which incidentally has been looming for over 2,000 years! (04/23/07)
So much for the bimbos' biodiesel bus bamboozle...
Biodiesel may worsen global warming relative to petroleum diesel - Biodiesel and petroleum diesel have similar environmental impact - Biodiesel made from rapeseed could increase rather than reduce greenhouse emissions compared to conventional diesel fuels, reports a new study published in the journal Chemistry & Industry. Overall the researchers found that petroleum diesel and rapeseed biodiesel, presently the main biofuel used across Europe, have a similar environmental impact. The results suggest that efforts to mitigate climate change through the adoption of rapeseed biodiesel may be of little use beyond energy security. (04/23/07)You have to just laugh...
Kernen outshines Laurie David and Sheryl Crow - Flash has pointed out this interesting TV confrontation: a CNBC video clip is available on the website under Sheryl's picture below. Or try YouTube including Patrick Michaels' reaction. (04/23/07)And you thought it was over...
Sheryl Crow: Fight Global Warming By Saving Toilet Paper - Earth Day was the perfect opportunity for American singer, Sheryl Crow, to remind people about her solution of saving the planet, suggesting a restriction of the toilet paper amount we use. She proposed a use of "only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required". (04/23/07) YouTube Video HereGlobal Warming Bimbo Eruption: Sheryl Crow & Laurie David Comedy Gold - Bill Clinton had his bimbo eruptions. Now global warming has its own. Singer Sheryl Crow and "Inconvenient Truth" producer and Seinfeld co-creator Larry David's wife Laurie David are busy on what has now turned into a comedy tour by traveling the planet to help us all understand that the earth is heating, and it is all our fault and if we don't act now we are all doomed. Let's call them the global warming bimbo eruption. (04/23/07)
Global Warming And Other Cold Myths - MIGHT it be that global warming is all a bit unproven, a bit of a political heat and light that makes the speaker look good and caring. Is it a new take on kissing babies? (04/23/07)
lmao!
Buzz hoses down the car to cool off the house - Now that world scientists unanimously agree Mother Nature is in the wildest ride of her life, I think we can all agree this sudden, but serious movement to improve the world's environment in order to save ourselves from death by climate change is a good thing. All except Buzz Hargrove, President of The Canadian Auto Workers Union. Fearing the loss of jobs in the automotive sector if tougher emission standards are slapped on new cars, Buzz recently warned his members about "the insanity of the environmental movement." (04/23/07)Science visits global warming discussion - Global warming alarmists say we can accurately predict climatic catastrophe in the decades ahead by using "computer climate models." But researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Miami don't think the science is "settled" that higher global temperatures would produce stronger hurricanes. (04/23/07)
Huh?
Gulf of Thailand won't rise with global warming, expert claims - "The climate change panel's projection was wrongly accepted to apply to the Gulf of Thailand," Suphat told The Nation newspaper. "We are too far from melting glaciers or ice sheets." (04/23/07)Pies in the Sky: A Solution to Global Warming? - By David Tenenbaum - As the reality of global warming sinks in, the scramble for solutions has begun. In the mainstream are ideas for energy conservation and non-carbon energy sources such as wind and nuclear power. Further afield are proposals to recover carbon dioxide spewed out by power plants. Much more speculative are some ambitious plans for high-tech parasols to block sunlight before it reaches this planet. (04/23/07)
Oh please...
Global Warming To Provoke Polar Bear Attacks - MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - Polar bears could start attacking humans more frequently due to global warming, a Russian scientist said Friday. Polar bears are carnivores that mainly live on seals, but can also feed on birds, shellfish, rodents and walruses - anything they can catch and kill. They are more likely to hunt humans than other bears and attacks could, for instance, happen at hunting camps or weather stations. (04/23/07)How about a bonfire of the Vanity Fairs? - The green issue of the US magazine - all Beautiful People photographed on glaciers - shows how pompous environmentalism has become. The cover of this month's Vanity Fair shows Leonardo DiCaprio standing on a glacier lagoon in Iceland alongside Knut, that cute polar bear cub from Berlin Zoo. The two celebrities (Knut has his own blog and TV show; the other one's an actor) did not actually meet each other, much less travel together for their "photo shoot" in Iceland. Rather they were brought together by the magic of photoshop, with Knut superimposed on to a shot of Leo on a glacier. Re-arranging imagery to create a certain impression might look stylish on the front cover of a magazine. However, it doesn't bode well for the magazine's contents. (04/23/07)
Credible scientists question claims - In usual fashion, a recent global warming alarmist in a letter to the editor using typical left-wing personal attacks put forth no substantial information proving his stance on global warming. There are numerous scientists, including Richard Lindzen of MIT, William Gray of Colorado State University and Steven Milloy of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who question the science behind most of the global warming hysteria. Here is what has been proven by science: (04/23/07)
Climate change just a fleeting theory - By PATRICK BARRETT - Speaking Out - People who believe in global warming like to cite the scientific consensus behind it. However, as Galileo and Einstein can tell you, science is not a democracy. When people point to a majority opinion in matters of science, it's because they don't have proof. In the case of predicting climate change, they use the same kinds of models as they use to predict tomorrow's weather - it's often based on speculation and past events in order to predict trends. And how often is the weather report accurate? (04/23/07)
The Orange Grove: Mars needs you, Mr. vice president -
The red planet's climate appears to be warming. Cue a familiar scapegoat - By TIBOR R. MACHAN - Yes, Virginia, the red planet is getting warmer. As Science News magazine reports in its April 7, 2007, issue: "Modeling conditions on Mars using albedo [the percentage of light reflected from its surface]data from the Mars Global Surveyor, the team [Paul E. Geissler, planetary geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz., and his colleagues]calculated an average air temperature at the planet's surface about 0.65 degrees Celsius higher than in comparable simulations" using data from the two Viking spacecraft landings on Mars in the 1970s. (04/23/07)Global Warming: A Physicist's Contrarian View - Event Description: There can be little doubt that the earth's temperature and the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration are both rising. But to conclude that humans cause global warming by burning fossil fuels involves numerous logical flaws, including confusion of cause and effect (headline: (Trailer Parks Attract Tornadoes"), and mistakenly comparing data sets that are inherently different (headline: Maple Leaves Getting Thinner! In Saguaro Cactus They Are Mere Spines!). This talk will take a sober look at the global-warming hysteria that pervades the media and politics. (04/23/07)
Global warming is an "elitist ploy" - Apparently, The Clarion-Ledger buys into the myth of "global warming." Hardly a day goes by that another "doomsday" article is not published. (04/23/07)
Biodiesel uptake won't affect global warming - EU legislation to promote the uptake of biodiesel will not make any difference to global warming, and could potentially result in greater emissions of greenhouse gases than from conventional petroleum derived diesel. This is the conclusion of a new study reported today in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. (04/23/07)
Editor promotes global warming article series - In an effort to promote enlightened debate about one of the most salient issues of the day -- global warming -- magazine editor Guy Crittenden has posted an entry on his Blog to steer readers towards a fascinating article series by environmental policy analyst and writer Lawrence Solomon. (04/22/07)
Google Is My Home Page - By Ken Hughes - You can imagine my surprise and confusion seeing the GOOGLE logo as an Iceberg melting into what I perceived to be the Artic Ocean. My first impression was this is a spoof on global warming. I'm not a believer in the global warming hysteria therefore my reaction was well within the scope of my beliefs. Google on the other hand usually sides with the current trends and fears that circulate through the Nanny World who's advocates make every attempt to control mans and natures every function. What would we do without them? (04/22/07)
'Melting icebergs' marks Earth Day - Search engine uses logo to jump on global warming bandwagon - Google has jumped on the global warming bandwagon today - Earth Day - with a holiday logo portraying melting icebergs. It's the latest in a series of examples of what "Stop the Presses!" author Joseph Farah calls the search engine's "blind streak of one-sided political correctness run amok. In and of itself, the Earth Day logo is neither surprising nor highly offensive," explains Farah, who devotes a chapter in his new book to revealing the "evil" done by the company whose corporate motto is "Don't Be Evil." "But this kind of conditioning, this kind of corporate direction, can only be understood by analyzing Google's history." (04/22/07)
Is Google's Earth Day Logo Advancing Global Warming Alarmism? - By Noel Sheppard - I noticed it earlier this morning, and was reminded by NewsBusters member Conservative in the Arts that Internet search behemoth Google was featuring an interesting logo to commemorate Earth Day: (04/22/07)
Ultimate lunacy: Dell says plant "virtual trees" for Earth Day - From the "you've GOT to be freaking kidding me" department: Dell's Virtual Plant a Tree for Me program into the computer game Second Life has many tech savvy people wondering if this represents a new low in Earth Day marketing tie-ins. It looks like in the rush to pander to green-ness, some Dell executives maybe didn't think beyond the boardroom door. (04/22/07)
Global warming needs fair debate - By Adrian Martinez - During the 17th century, great thinkers like Galileo Galilei were persecuted and silenced by religious entities such as the Catholic Church for their promotion of then-unpopular ideas. Now, scientists are silencing other scientists for going against the grain. (04/22/07)
Consume Like There's No Tomorrow - Would someone please tell the Sierra Club Exec Board that the idea of an "environmentally friendly car" makes as much sense as a "non-violent death penalty?" While the vast majority of those concerned with global warming consider reduction of unneeded production to be at the core of a sane policy, the Sierra Club has endorsed a plan that includes virtually no role for conservation. (04/22/07)
White House foresees vindication on warming - By Jon Ward - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - A top White House adviser says Democratic plans to spotlight global warming will vindicate the president's policies, which have relied on skepticism that a warming trend will have dire consequences. (04/22/07)
Sheryl Crow and Laurie David Argue With Karl Rove at Correspondents' Dinner - By Noel Sheppard - Karl Rove found out Saturday evening that the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner isn't just about comedians and members of the press telling jokes at the Administration's expense. Depending on whose account you believe, it is also about invited guests having the opportunity to confront White House staff in order to give them indigestion before their meal. (04/22/07)
Is it really possible to stop global warming? - By Liu Chung-ming - Can humans really change nature's mechanisms and cause the earth to continue heating up? Right now, humans cannot break the laws of nature. These laws dictate that in 80,000 years, global temperatures will drop about 10oC, glaciers around the world will expand greatly and the climate will enter another ice age. But that is another 80,000 years. For the moment, the earth is in a warming period between these ice ages. This is not even the hottest period in the last 80,000 years, although current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are higher than they've been in more than 600,000 years. The Earth would need to break away from the sun, or its volcanoes would have to undergo massive simultaneous eruptions in order to halt the temperature increase. The greenhouse effect caused by greenhouse gas emissions can only be checked by a reduction of the solar radiation. Atmospheric science says, the correct explanation for rising temperatures over the past and the next 100 years, global warming, cannot be explained if we ignore the impact of manmade factors. In other words, the current record temperatures are the result of the combined impact of natural weather and large quantities of greenhouse gases released by humans, and not merely the result of human activity. (04/22/07)
Global warming: Incovenient questions - The 'settled science' of climate change ... isn't settled. - By Mark Landsbaum - In March, NASA scientists spotted a region on the sun they expected to be calm but instead was, "a bubbling mass of swaying and arching spikes, some more than 5,000 miles long ... causing huge temperature flares," as reported in Investor's Business Daily. (04/22/07)
No climate study is untainted - In an April 15 letter to the editor, we are told of the funding of a scientist who disputes global warming ("Author Paid To Discount Warming"). We repeatedly hear how the oil and coal companies fund studies. It is funny we never hear how the studies confirming global warming are funded by those who may profit from carbon-offset programs. For instance, Al Gore is chairman and founding partner of a company selling carbon offsets. His partner is Maurice Strong who was the head of the U.N. Rio Earth summit. (04/22/07)
Fit for Debate, Fit for Rebate - Honda's Canadian subsidiary is facing an interesting choice: fuel economy at the expense of safety. New federal regulations recently passed in Canada award a $1000 rebate for cars that fall below a fuel consumption threshold, set at 6.5 liters per 100 kilometers in that wacky metric system. While the competing Toyota Yaris tests at 6.3l/100km, Honda's smallest offering, the Fit, sits just on the line at 6.5. (04/22/07)
No global warming - Nature is just doing her thing - When will the global-warming crowd quit insulting our intelligence? In the April 17 Register, there are 50 ways listed to help fight global warming ("50 Ways To Tread Lightly on Earth"). (04/22/07)
Commissioners slam global warming - Underwood ties "unproven theory" to a socialist plot - By Brian McGillivary - County commissioners Addison "Sonny" Wheelock, Dick Thomas and Margaret Underwood all recently opined on the state of the environment and the concept of global warming. Among them, the commissioners tied global warming to socialism, suggested sending an e-mail to the sun and pointed out that dinosaurs didn't drive expensive foreign cars. "I believe the Sierra Club, along with Al Gore, President Carter and the United Nations are socialistic organizations that are trying to change the government of this country, and I am opposed to everything they support or try to (foist) on us to do," Underwood said at a March 14 public meeting. "I cannot support this unproven theory of global warming." (04/22/07)
The hype over global warming is a tool of the liberal agenda - By Allan Hegland - Anybody sick of the hype yet? How did we ever let them get this far? Global warming is not just a liberal icon. It is a big lie. The big lie is always told by people who are pushing an agenda, and the agenda is more power to government, less power to the citizens. (04/22/07)
Letter: Sun's irradiance is what's causing global warming - By Ron Baert, Sauk Rapids - In the Feb. 28 National Geographic News online, the article "Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says" pointed out that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's South Pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row. (04/22/07)
Is this what our future holds?
Student on the Street: Are you worried about global warming? - CADILLAC - With Earth Day coming up on Sunday the Cadillac News went to Cadillac High School to ask some of its students if they were worried about global warming. These were the responses some of the students gave: (04/21/07)Relax, the planet is fine - Money is partly to blame for the global warming hysteria, Professor Richard Lindzen says - By Linda Frum, National Post - This Earth Day, Professor Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT, wants you to calm down. The Earth, he says, is in good shape. "Forests are returning in Europe and the United States. Air quality has improved. Water quality has improved. We grow more food on less land. We've done a reasonably good job in much of the world in conquering hunger. And yet we're acting as though: "How can we stand any more of this?" A leading critic on the theory of man-made global warming, Professor Lindzen has developed a reputation as America's anti-doom-andgloom scientist. And he's not, he says, as lonely as you might think.(04/21/07)
Global-warming alarmists go too far - There is a lot of humor in the Star-Gazette. For example, a so-called environmental expert from Cornell asked the question in an April 14 article: How would you like to have the weather of Georgia in New York? As I looked at three inches of snow and more in mid-April, I vote a definite yes. Give me global warming, and give it to me now. (04/21/07)
Libs declare climate war - By Paul Starick - A South Australian Liberal senator has signalled a hardline policy on tackling climate change by dismissing man-made pollution as a cause of global warming. - "I have come to believe we're seeing a distortion of a whole area of science that is being manipulated to present a certain point of view to the global public, that is that the actions of man are the cause of climate change. I have examined both sides of this debate and, when the alarmist statements are discounted, the scientific evidence that remains does not support the scenario that is being presented to us. The facts do not fit the theory." (04/21/07)
Finding the truth in global warming reports - The IPCC is a government organization (as are many of the sources Mr. Teeple uses), which ignores completely, the input and research from many of the scientists on the panel who believe otherwise from what they are told to believe. Many of these scientists end up leaving the panel as a result of their research and their voices not being heard or printed. (04/21/07)
The Global Warming Myth? - The End Is Not Near -- Instead of Panicking Over Climate Change, Learn to Adjust to It - By JOHN STOSSEL - April 20, 2007 - The heavy breathing over global warming is enough to terrify anyone. Last week the Washington Post interviewed a 9-year-old who said the Earth is "just starting to fade away." In 20 years there will be "no oxygen" he said, and he'll be dead. The Post went on to say that "for many children and young adults, global warming is...defining their generation." How sad. (04/20/07)
Study: ABC, CBS and NBC Morning Shows Join Al Gore's Climate Crusade - By Rich Noyes - Al Gore has complained that the media are biased against the inconvenient truth of global warming. "I believe that is one of the principal reasons why political leaders around the world have not yet taken action," Gore told a "Media Ethics Summit" at Middle Tennessee State University back in February. Gore lectured journalists that any coverage of views opposed to his own was irresponsible, calling it "balance as bias." (04/20/07)
'70s-Era Time Capsule Reveals Media Warnings of Global Cooling - By Scott Whitlock - Media theories certainly do change. In light of ABC's aggressive promotion of the danger of global warming and the liberal solutions the network has embraced, I thought it might be a good idea to consider the '70s-era threat of global cooling. (04/20/07)
Media Advisory - Discussion on politics of global warming to kick off Fraser Institute cocktail series at OPUS hotel - VANCOUVER, April 20 /CNW/ - Dr. Ross McKitrick, well-known academic and author, will discuss the troubled politics of global warming to kick off the first event of the three-evening 2007 Spring cocktail series, Behind the Spin: Fraser @ OPUS on Tuesday, April 24. "We're excited to be engaging a young, influential, and diverse Vancouver audience in ideas of interest to us all," said Leah Costello, the Fraser Institute's director of events. "That our first event sold out well in advance proves that people in Vancouver are interested in current affairs and have an appetite for stimulating discussions." (04/20/07)
"End global warming - ban new cars!" - Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesia's environment minister has come up with a drastic solution for the country's smog-filled cities - ban the sale of new cars! Minister Rachmat Witoelar said: "We need to stop the sale of new cars, at least we need to have a pause of new car production, unless the manufacturers produce friendly new cars that use gas, biofuels or electricity." (04/20/07)
Climate-change campaign misrepresents Inuit, says critic - "We're not all dying. There have been some accidents, even before the global warming ever came to be," he said. "This is a continuation of natural hunting tragedies." (04/20/07)
You can't make this stuff up. Oh, wait a minute...
Sudden Sea Level Surges Threaten 1 Billion - Study - SAN FRANCISCO - More than 1 billion people live in low-lying areas where a sudden surge in sea level could prove as disastrous as the 2004 Asian tsunami, according to new research presented on Thursday. (04/20/07)Global Warming Skeptic Rips Media Alarmists and "Malevolent" Scientists - By Noel Sheppard - As a Canadian environmental consultant, Dr. Timothy F. Ball isn't a household name in America...yet. However, his writings, speeches, and television appearances concerning the science and lack thereof surrounding anthropogenic global warming make him a distinguished member of the growing list of skeptics around the world desperately and passionately fighting to inject some facts into this contentious debate. On Thursday, I received an e-mail message from Dr. Ball addressing the dangers inherent in the current global warming alarmism being exhibited by the media and folks like soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore, and how "incompetent" and possibly "malevolent" scientists are unfortunately aiding in the misinformation campaign. (04/20/07)
Kids Fear Global Warming More Than Terrorism, Car Crashes, and Cancer, According to National Earth Day Survey - National Survey of Middle School Students Shows Kids Believe More Needs to be Done to Save the Planet - NEW YORK, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- While recent polls show that American adults are most concerned about the war in Iraq, terrorism, and healthcare, a survey of more than 1,000 middle school students across the country found that kids fear global warming more than any of these issues. The survey was conducted by BrainPOP, a New York based educational provider. (04/20/07)
More psychobabble...
Climate change: Why we don't believe it - By Lois Rogers - What does Britain really think about global warming? We reveal an unreported gulf between the pronouncements of campaigners and politicians and British public opinion. (04/20/07)It's the end of the world!
Timeline: The Frightening Future of Earth - By Andrea Thompson and Ker Than - Our planet's prospects for environmental stability are bleaker than ever with the approach of this year's Earth Day, April 22. Global warming is widely accepted as a reality by scientists and even by previously doubtful government and industrial leaders. And according to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is a 90 percent likelihood that humans are contributing to the change. The international panel of scientists predicts the global average temperature could increase by 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 and that sea levels could rise by up to 2 feet. Scientists have even speculated that a slight increase in Earth's rotation rate could result, along with other changes. Glaciers, already receding, will disappear. Epic floods will hit some areas while intense drought will strike others. Humans will face widespread water shortages. Famine and disease will increase. Earth's landscape will transform radically, with a quarter of plants and animals at risk of extinction. (04/19/07)Study : ABC, CBS and NBC Push Global Warming Alarmism, Purge Skeptics and Hide Economic Costs : Morning TV's One-Sided Climate Crusade - Al Gore has complained that the media are biased against the inconvenient truth of global warming. "I believe that is one of the principal reasons why political leaders around the world have not yet taken action," Gore told a "Media Ethics Summit" at Middle Tennessee State University back in February. Gore lectured journalists that any coverage of views opposed to his own was irresponsible, calling it "balance as bias." It's impossible to imagine the big TV networks actually accepting an edict from a conservative politician to report only their side of a major public policy issue, but a new Media Research Center study of ABC, CBS and NBC's global warming coverage finds the networks are giving Gore practically everything he demanded. Not only does nearly every global warming story exclude any contrary voices, but the coverage of Al Gore personally has been exceptionally positive as well. (04/19/07)
Huge Profits From Carbon Offsets - By Adrian Ash - Not content with abolishing the economic cycle, the world's central bankers and finance ministers - led by Gordon Brown and ordained by Pope Al Gore the First - now plan a "New World Order"to fight global warming. A wealth of tax-funded humbug is certain to follow. So it comes as no surprise to find Wall Street and the City of London urging us all to "go green" as well. (04/19/07)
Scientist: Warming not caused by humans - By Wendy Reeves - MADISON - Roy Spencer says we don't know yet how changes are happening - Roy Spencer is speaking up about his belief that Earth is not headed toward a global warming disaster. Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and former NASA scientist, said he knows he's in the minority with his opinions, but he doesn't believe manmade influences are causing catastrophic climate changes. (04/19/07)
In curbing global warming, the devil is in the offsets - By Jim Snyder - As lawmakers craft global warming legislation, one question they will have to settle is what should qualify as an offset to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The definition holds significant financial consequences for both industries and agriculture - one estimate puts the potential windfall of a vibrant offset market at $8 billion a year for farmers - and the issue is likely to be lobbied on heavily as the climate-change debate progresses on Capitol Hill (04/19/07)
A Little Testy at RealClimate - By Pielke Jr., R. - Based on my most recent interaction, the folks at RealClimate seem less interested than ever on an open exchange of views on scientific topics. But I guess that is what might be expected when one points out that the they are spreading misinformation. (04/19/07)
Sing in the shower to stop global warming, Greenpeace says - Santo Domingo. - The latest message from Greenpeace to its subscribers features practical ideas to "prevent dangerous climate change without having to freeze in the dark, without stunting economic growth in developing countries, and without building nuclear power plants." (04/19/07)
The Politics of the Polar Bear - By Bennet Rawicki - Newsstand covers proclaim "A Threat Graver than Terrorism is Upon Us." This threat guzzles carbon dioxide, has it out for the polar bear, and has told Al Gore that it plans to raise sea levels 20 feet. You guessed it, the much discussed and little understood, global warming. The science behind the issue is not "as certain as gravity" like Gore claims. The prominent theses claiming human-caused climate change do not account for Nature's temperature control: rain. If the Earth's temperature rises, more evaporation occurs creating more clouds and precipitation, which cools the Earth. Without this mitigating factor included in climate change models, results are skewed to the extreme. This is merely one of many disputes in the scientific community, and it seems as if every study (including the U.N. study) has scientists lining up on the other side to disprove the results. There is no consensus. (04/19/07)
Investigators Warn Of Global Warming Costs: Taxpayer-Funded Insurance Programs May Take Hit - By David Lightman and Joel Lang, The Hartford Courant, Conn. WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators plan to warn a Senate committee today that climate change could mean sharply increased costs for taxpayer-funded insurance programs - costs that put the government at "increased financial risk." But while private insurers have factored the impact of global warming into their risk calculations, public insurers have been reluctant to do so, according to testimony by John B. Stephenson, director of natural resources and environment for the Government Accountability Office. (04/19/07)
Global warming blows hot and cold - By Gideon Rachman - HERE is another inconvenient truth. Global warming is good news for parts of the world. This is truly awkward. A "planetary emergency" that affected everyone equally would be much easier to tackle. However, climate change that hurts some places but helps others, opens the way for dangerous political conflicts. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms that global warming puts large parts of the world at risk from famine, flood and disease. (04/19/07)
Climate reporting "too balanced" say scientists - MELBOURNE: Airing the views of climate change sceptics in the media may only be serving to keep the global warming controversy boiling, argue scientists. (04/19/07)
Funerals barking up wrong tree - By Chee Chee Leung - INSTEAD of the dead pushing up daisies, a Victorian scientist wants them to help in the fight against climate change by fertilising their favourite tree. The University of Melbourne's Professor Roger Short has called for an end to cremations, declaring the environmental cost of burning a body and a wooden coffin is "enormous". The greener option, he said, was to place bodies in a cardboard coffin or a hessian sack, and then bury them upright next to a tree so the remains would help its growth. (04/19/07)
Radical Environmentalism - In the April 23, 2007 issue of Business Week, a magazine one might reasonably hope to have a balanced perspective on environmental issues, an article has appeared entitled "Climate Wars: Episode Two," by John Carey. Beneath the title, the teaser line reads as follows: "With the skeptics almost silenced, businesses are fighting over how to cut carbon emissions." Silenced? Does anyone in America remember the first amendment? Does anyone in America still remember that skepticism is one of the foundations of science? What if the skeptics are right? (04/18/07)
NY Mag: Global Warming Cure Depends on "Fat, Spoiled 21st-Century Americans" - By Noel Sheppard - A few weeks ago as the world awaited the release of the most recent report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, some well-known scientists were quoted as saying that the media's sensationalistic coverage of the issue was interfering with a reasoned discussion on the topic. Their thinking was that the more the press and Hollywoodans suggest that the problem is so dire that the world is coming to an end, the more likely the public will develop a sense of futility about the issue, and just begin to ignore it. A fine example of exactly what these scientists were talking about was published in the most recent issue of New York magazine (h/t radio host Mike Church). In fact, Kurt Andersen's article sounded such hyperbolic alarm that he had the gall to suggest that "fat, spoiled, 21st-century Americans" only have a 50-50 chance of possessing the "requisite gumption and discipline" to solve the problem (emphasis added throughout, apologies in advance for Andersen's vulgarity): (04/18/07)
GMA's Weatherman Scolds Viewers For Contributing to Global Warming - By Scott Whitlock - On Wednesday's "Good Morning America," Sam Champion, ABC weatherman and liberal environmentalist, escalated his campaign to encourage Americans to fight global warming. In addition to lecturing viewers about their contribution to climate change, he, once again, engaged in identification bias. Champion's segment featured a representative from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a liberal environmental group. The organization's ideology, not surprisingly, went completely unmentioned. However, the weatherman began the piece by standing in front of a bank of televisions and scolding viewers for their energy output: Sam Champion: "For example, did you know that even with the flip of a switch, we all contribute to global warming? Well, I know it sounds a little intense. But there are some small things you can do to change that, like paying attention to your carbon footprint...If you think you have nothing to do with global warming, think again. From the car you drive, to the house you live in, it all contributes to the problem." (04/18/07)
Republicans see global warming alarmism - By John Heilprin - WASHINGTON - House Republicans made it clear Wednesday they won't make things easy for Democrats trying to lay the groundwork for legislation on greenhouse gases and climate change. At the first hearing of a special committee established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make the case for a bill, Republicans questioned efforts to paint global warming as a national security threat. "Unfortunately, this debate hasn't been characterized by common sense. It's been characterized by extremism," said Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the senior Republican on the panel. "While this extremism hasn't done anything to produce effective solutions, it has created a lot of hot air, which hasn't been good for Congress' carbon footprint." (04/18/07)
Maybe this should be on the science page...
Daylight Exacerbates Warning - The people at Phoresia might have less to worry about than they think when it comes to global warming. All we have to do is change the axis of the earth's rotation to re-adjust the daylight savings time. Get Congress on it. (04/18/07)Allergies worsening with warm weather - But link to global warming remains unclear - By Scott Shewfelt - WASHINGTON -- If you could stop rubbing your itchy, watery eyes for one second, put down the tissue and look around, you'd see an increasing number of sneezing, sniffling sad sacks just like you. The recent warm weather sent more patients to Maryland allergists than ever before, but whether the weather is influenced by global warming is up in the air. (04/18/07)
Science vs. Gore on Methane - In his 21 March 2007 testimony before the United States Senate's Environment & Public Works Committee, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore talked passionately about what he referred to time and again as a "climate crisis," which he characterized as "a planetary emergency - a crisis that threatens the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth." Using the word "crisis" an amazing 10 times in his 14-paragraph testimony, Gore mentioned several things designed to supposedly justify his prolific use of the scary word; yet he truly outdid himself when he ominously added that "new evidence shows that it [i.e., the climate crisis] may be even worse [our italics] than we thought." And that's saying a lot, particularly when the "thinker" is Al Gore! (04/18/07)
Global warming brings taste of Med to gardens - North One Garden Centre in Englefield Road, Islington, has sold approximately 105 of the £40 trees this year - a rate of seven a week. Louise Alhadeff said: "We are constantly having to restock. Once you weren't able to keep olive trees outside - but now they survive all year round. Is this global warming? Who knows? "Another good thing about olive trees is they don't need to be watered as much as British plants. We are all busy people and we can't spend all day watering plants. The scientists are predicting the hottest summer yet and people are having to change the way they garden. People know olive trees won't be dying on them." (04/18/07)
A look at the bright side of global warming crisis - With all the hot air being produced over global warming, it would have been nice if they'd sent some our way around St. Patrick's Day. Come to think of it, Easter, too, was cold enough to frost a bunny. Snowstorms dumped on Texas and the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., despite the heat produced by protesters outside the president's Crawford ranch and the hot air rising from the Capitol dome. Still, the alarms keep sounding about the polar ice caps melting and raising sea levels high enough to drown places like New York, Los Angeles and Cape Cod. (04/18/07)
Global warming debate heats up at high school - Pre-AP biology students research, discuss topics related to hot issue - By Brooke Chambers - Jason Walker's pre-AP biology classroom at Russellville High School was transformed Monday into a forum for debating a world issue his 10th-grade students have been exposed to most of their lives, but have only researched within the past week. Dressed in their best business attire, students in Walker's four biology classes argued whether global warming is a real threat, or whether recent reports and documentaries are correct in stating global warming is all a government hoax. (04/18/07)
Meat eaters, not gas guzzlers, to blame for global warming, speaker claims - Adopting a vegetarian diet is better at preventing global warming than driving a fuel-efficient car, said San Jose State University sociology professor Dan Brook in a lecture Monday. Speaking as a guest invited by Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Brook stressed that the practices of the international meat and dairy industry are the leading cause of greenhouse gases, which consequently result in global warming. He also cited a few sketchy statistics, the Emerald has found. To prevent these greenhouse gases, Brook said that individual consumers can make a huge difference where government and industry have not. "Every time you buy something, you're saying 'I support this process; I vote for it,'" he said. "Every time you purchase a hamburger, you're saying 'I support the meat industry, I support global warming.'" (04/18/07)
Group Calls for Population Control to Stop Global Warming - By Monisha Bansal - (CNSNews.com) - Ahead of Earth Day on Sunday, an advocacy group warned that the United States is ignoring "the most crucial factor in reducing global warming" - population control. "Human population growth is the paramount environmental issue," Ric Oberlink, a spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, told Cybercast News Service. "Global warming is a very serious problem, but it is a subset of the overpopulation problem," he said. Oberlink argued that an increase in the emission of "greenhouse gases" -- carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for climate change -- is a result of human activity, "like most environmental problems." Although one part of the equation is what people do, he said, the other part is how many there are. "If we had half as many people, we wouldn't have much of a climatic warming problem," argued Oberlink. (04/18/07)
It's hard to have any sympathy for the Governator on this one...
Believing in Global Warming Isn't a Solution - By Debra Saunders - Now Al Gore, who hyper-consumes energy in his Tennessee home, and Schwarzenegger, who is always jumping on a private jet after eco-friendly media events, can burn energy like the most flagrant energy hogs. As long as they say they believe in global warming, they personally don't have to do much about global warming. (04/18/07)Another take on global warming - Re: Ted Duff's letter (Packet & Times, April 9) - Duff states global warming is a theory largely fanned by the media. He is then castigated in a letter from Jim Woodford for not being in the 21st century and being unintelligent for calling it global warming instead of climate change. Well, at the risk of being labeled unintelligent or not being in the 21st century, global warming or climate change and the hysteria around it, is probably one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on us by the well-fed Kyoto fanatics. (04/18/07)
Global warming not all bad - Is global warming the doom and gloom scenario that is being described to us almost daily by the media and politicians? The short answer is no. It would be better to describe global warming as partly good and partly bad. So the level of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere; plants are unlikely to complain. Sea levels have risen, but only by millimetres, and there is good evidence to suggest that the snow/ice balance of Antarctica and Greenland are more or less in balance. Like any situation, there is enough evidence to suggest that the good parts of global warming will offset the bad parts. In the physical world at least the rate of change is slow, and slow enough to allow companies and markets to adjust in the normal course of business. That might be paraphrasing a bit much, but from my heretical viewpoint there is as much good to come from global warming as there will be bad - overall we end up more or less in the same place. Sadly though, the world is largely run by politicians. And politicians have decided that global warming is nothing short of a catastrophe about to happen. (04/18/07)
Play ball! If there's no rain or snow, that is - By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY - They had nasty snowball fights in Cleveland and cutthroat video game tournaments in Pittsburgh. They stuffed their faces with cheesesteak sandwiches in Philadelphia and had crab cake feasts in Baltimore. They sat 11 hours waiting for a plane to take them back to Houston and four days in a city without a game. They might be the Boys of Summer, but with the necessary makeup games from this wintry April, they might be cranky old men when the baseball season ends. "It's been crazy, to say the least," Cleveland Indians outfielder David Dellucci says. "I've had all kinds of people in Cleveland apologizing to me for the weather. What are you going to do?" There have been 18 dates and 22 games postponed the first two weeks of the season, the highest April total since the 24 in 1997, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. A year ago there were only six dates and eight postponed games in all of April. (04/17/07)
Prep baseball, softball feel sting of spring - By Kevin Noonan - Bob Colburn doesn't dwell on it, but he can't help thinking about it when he's on the phone with a coaching crony from Arizona or Texas. Colburn, the St. Andrew's School baseball coach, will be looking out his window at late-afternoon snow flurries while he talks to a guy who's sitting around in shorts and a T-shirt and dabbing on sunscreen before practice, and his reaction usually is the same. "I hear that," Colburn said, "and I just want to cry." Bad weather is a fact of life for coaches and athletes who play spring sports in the Northeast. And every spring has its dismal moments, although none has been as bad as this one. At least, that's what Colburn said. He has been coaching in Delaware for 47 years, so when he speaks, the weatherman should listen. "I can remember springs when there was a lot of ice and snow, and I can remember springs when it's rained a lot, and I can remember springs when it was cold and windy," Colburn said on another stormy Monday. "But for persistently bad weather, I can't remember one like this." (04/17/07)
Oh please!
An Inconvenient Tooth: Food Is Major Contributor to Climate Change - New "Low Carbon Diet" Aims to Take Bite Out of Global Warming - PALO ALTO, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire/ - Global warming activists have a new ally in their fight to save the planet - lunch. It turns out that food (and all the energy it takes to make it) is one
of the largest human activities contributing to global warming. The average American creates 2.8 tons of CO2 emissions each year by eating - even more
than the 2.2 tons each person generates by driving, according to recent research (Echel and Martin, 2006). (04/17/07)British Parents Look to Stop Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" from Airing in Schools - By Noel Sheppard - Better put away those combustibles, potables, and sharp objects again, sports fans, because a group of British parents in New Forest, England, are threatening legal action if soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore's schlockumentary "An Inconvenient Truth" is aired in their schools. I kid you not. (04/17/07)
Global Warming may Ease Energy Crisis (satire) - Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Reinvention (MIR) are claiming that the threat of Global Warming also holds the promise of unlimited free electrical energy. Their solution is found in the production of electricity directly from the Earth's increasing heat, using a centuries-old principle called the "Seebeck Effect." (04/17/07)
Global warming may spur wind shear, sap hurricanes - MIAMI, April 17 (Reuters) - By Jim Loney - Global warming could increase a climate phenomenon known as wind shear that inhibits Atlantic hurricanes, a potentially positive result of climate change, according to new research released on Tuesday. (04/17/07)
GMA Provides Hyperbolic Report on "Moderate" Global Warming Estimate - By Scott Whitlock - On Saturday's "Good Morning America," correspondent Christianne Klein hyped this past weekend's global warming rallies by reporting hyperbolic and misleading information on the subject of rising sea levels. Reporting from lower Manhattan, and standing in front of a group an environmental activists, she said of the protesters, "Now, where they will stand represents where the Manhattan coastline could be if the sea level rises just 10 feet, actually, a moderate estimate for global warming standards." A 10 feet increase is a moderate estimate? Not quite. As the CATO Institute's Patrick Michaels noted, the much hyped U.N. report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggested a rise of inches, not feet, is likely:
Under the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's medium-range emission scenario for greenhouse gases, a rise in sea level of between 8 and 17 inches is predicted by 2100...Even 17 inches is likely to be high, because it assumes that the concentration of methane, an important greenhouse gas, is growing rapidly. (04/17/07)A final word on global warming - The global-warming movement is taking on all of the features of a Christian crusade – complete with its self-appointed pope, Al Gore. Alas, I remain a Doubting Thomas. In fact, I have challenged, if not defied, the gospel of global warming in such open and notorious fashion that, if Gore’s judgment day were tomorrow, I would go straight to hell. (04/17/07)
What a bunch of psychobabble!
Climate Change in Popular Culture - Science, Hollywood, and Sci-Fi's Alarm Bell - Two documentaries, including one called Everything's Cool, will deal with global warming this year. They join The Day After Tomorrow and An Inconvenient Truth as movies concerned with climate change. KPBS film critic Beth Accomando considers how popular entertainment affects us. (04/17/07)Global warming Your Turn: Be skeptical and watch for a hand in your pocket - By Ron Scarbro Sartell - Much has been written and said recently about global warming. ... Like most of you, I am not an expert. I also am not a scientist. What I am is a free citizen of the greatest country on Earth with a right to an opinion. The word "expert" bears some discussion. If you have observed any court proceedings, you will see that you can find an expert for any position you may hold. Those experts are usually available for a price. (04/17/07)
Global warming and cool thinking - Believing that an informed public is essential in a democracy, I herewith offer a few references that may lend perspective to The Jakarta Post editorial of April 9 titled, Rise to the challenge, concerning global warming. There is much that can be said, but not being gifted with the ability to speak concisely, I have lifted several quotes from recent columns found in other reading that merit follow-up by concerned readers. (04/17/07)
Still shoveling snow? It's all global warming - With an exquisite sense of timing, the U.N. releases a report on human-induced global warming just as large sections of the United States are experiencing yet another week of record-breaking cold. Particularly amusing was the reference to spring arriving earlier, while millions were shoveling snow on Sunday. (04/17/07)
Are humans responsible for global warming? - Human contribution to global warming is negligible - By Aaron Burkhart - The fact is, temperature fluctuations - both short term and long term - are a natural part of the Earth's climate. In the '60s and '70s, many scientists were warning of global cooling, as temperatures had dipped since the '40s. Later, when temperatures started to rise, the impending disaster of global warming became the new threat scientists would need millions of dollars to fight. (04/17/07)
Excellent KPBS article...
The Hype Factor - Global Warming Skeptics Cite Alarmism as Detractor From Science - By Kenny Goldberg - One groundhog pops his head up, and he says, I predict slightly warmer temperatures due to global warming. And the second groundhog is alarmed. He says, "How are you going to get government grants with that? You've got to predict catastrophic storms, oceans swallowing up cities, the end of mankind, c'mon." KPBS Audio (04/17/07)
Say it ain’t snow - By Steven Marcus - We all are complaining about the weather, but it could be worse. The temperature in upstate Watertown Monday was a balmy 38, according to Jefferson Community College athletic director Jeff Wiley. "All the way up,'' Wiley said. He'll take it--but the eight inches snow on his athletic fields that he can do without. His school was closed and all classes and events postponed. Baseball has been hit the hardest, with only two home games thus far at Jefferson CC. There have been proposals over the years to move the collegiate baseball season to the fall when the weather is usually fine in the northeast. "But the football schools will not hear of it,'' Suffolk CC-Selden baseball coach Eric Brown. Football rules, so, forget that idea. (04/16/07) The Global Warming Argument: Win It, Don't Spin It (If You Can) - By Amy Ridenour - A for-profit public relations agency sent me a link and an excerpt to the story "Thanks for the Facts. Now Sell Them" by Matthew C. Nisbet and Chris Mooney in Sunday's Washington Post, with the suggestion that I might like to blog about it. (04/16/07)
Response to global warming replies - Yep, we are polluting the planet. It is good to clean up our act. Having lived in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Hawaii and California in the bad, old, really smoggy 1950s, I can attest to that. But the question is whether we have to limit carbon dioxide to slow down global warming. Is it a huge threat, larger than car accidents, overpopulation, starvation, asteroids (which only a very lonely voice crying in the wilderness cared about until recently), etc. I don't care which side is right. Show me the double-blind, verifiable, repeatable science behind the assertions, and I'll willingly agree. What concerns me is that this whole thing has assumed the mantle of religion. (04/16/07)
Two Post Takes On Proselytizing In Schools: Global Warming Good, Jesus Bad - By Tim Graham - The Washington Post produced two very different takes on Monday in stories about motivating school children to pay attention to threats looming in their future. First, there was an urgent front-page story about the need to educate children about the cataclysmic vision of a world destroyed by global warming - "the atomic bomb of today" - with absolutely no one skeptical of the almost religious claims of hellish destruction in the very near future. One campus activist asked: "What's the use of a college degree when Wall Street is under water?" Second, in stark contrast, came a story on the front-page of Metro about selling the religious message of Jesus along with free pizza. But this article was stuffed with skeptical students who were offended by the evangelizing - even as they snagged the lunch. "The free food they like...The praying they don't." (04/16/07)
Why So Gloomy? - Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it? Recently many people have said that the earth is facing a crisis requiring urgent action. This statement has nothing to do with science. (04/16/07)
Forum: Debating Climate Change Fears - Lindzen responds to critics of his views on global warming. April 15, 2007 - Richard S. Lindzen's article on why alarm over climate change is unwarranted ("Why So Gloomy?" NEWSWEEK International, April 16-23 issue) drew comments from many readers. Some letters were laudatory, others were critical. Some readers expressed concern that Lindzen may have ties to energy companies and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). These charges were made by journalist Ross Gelbspan in Harper's magazine in December 1995: "Lindzen ... charges oil and coal interests $2500 a day for his consulting services; his 1991 trip to testify before a Senate committee was paid for by Western Fuels, and a speech he wrote ... was underwritten by OPEC." (04/15/07)
It's snow fun at all - By Travis Lazarczyk - Snow is a pretty good all-purpose metaphor. It and its cousin, winter, can stand in for old age, loneliness and depression, just to name a few. You know where you never see snow as a metaphor? Baseball. The scheduled spring sports season is upon us. Some lacrosse and tennis games were supposed to b
