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September 2007 Archives
More bubblehead babble...
Isolationism won't keep global warming away - Charlotte Bridgeman may be one of many Americans who live in an isolationist bubble ("Global warming theory is a scam," Sept. 24). No, global warming has not affected the average American because of location and continental size. We do not see the immediate results in North Carolina.
I suggest Bridgeman travel to a large city such as Los Angeles or Beijing, China, to experience the effect of smog. Is this not caused by man? Actually, Los Angeles does have a unique condition called haze. But I've never heard anyone argue that smog is not caused by man. Do these emissions contribute to global warming? Not in any significant amount. Furthermore, forests in Europe are dying because of the acid rain that falls on them. What causes acid rain? Seems very likely that the junk we put into the atmosphere has something to do with it. Really? It used to be a big problem in North America. Has acid rain migrated to Europe now? How can we explain melting of the ice caps and glaciers? The same way we explain growing ice caps and glaciers such as Antartica and Mount Shasta in California, natural processes. Why do we suddenly have new opportunities for trade routes between East and West? I wonder if anyone asked that question when airplanes were invented? Seems likely that higher temperatures are needed to melt more ice. Ya think?
The planet is like the human body. This is just absurd. The planet is not like a human body at all. This is the ridiculous assertions often regurgitated by environmentalists. The human body has a normal temperature. Just what is the planet's normal temperature anyway? If we eat nutritious food and take care of our bodies, we benefit. If we eat high-fat fast food every day, drink gallons of carbonated beverages and fail to exercise, we cannot expect to maintain a healthy weight or a healthy body. Other nations do not have as many obese people as we do. Some nations have more obese people than we do. So what? In fact, were only 9th. Here's the fattest 49.
Other nations have for some time been trying to take care of the Earth. We (The United States) have been trying to take care of the Earth too. Again, so what? When will the isolationists realize that we are not alone on this planet and we are responsible for its continued survival? ~ Jackie Dwelle, Laurinburg People who understand that man-made CO2 plays no significant role in climate change aren't isolationists, we're just too smart to be led around on a leash by Al Gore, and the band of criminals at the UN. (09/30/07)
Science and global warming - When Thomas Friedman touts carbon dioxide as the cause of global warming in his column "Doha and Dalian" (Sept. 20), I respond as a physicist that he cannot comprehend that it is still not proven that carbon dioxide emissions actually are causing global warming. Correlation does not prove Causation.
The Earth's climate changes all the time. Did carbon dioxide emissions cause the Medieval Warm Period, when Vikings raised crops on Greenland's coast? What caused the cold climate from 1700 to 1850? In 1975, articles were published predicting we were entering a New Ice Age.
Reputable scientists oppose this unwarranted alarmist hysteria. If fanatic leftists who hate America's progressive capitalistic system had not opposed the building of nuclear power plants by wild allegations and interminable lawsuits, the United States could have built dozens of safe, modern reactors. These provide plentiful, reliable energy and, incidentally, emit zero carbon dioxide.
Understanding climate change is an extremely difficult scientific problem. Giant computers generating climate models cannot be trusted so far. As any computer person knows, garbage in means garbage out. If research suggests subtle variations in our Sun's radiation reaching Earth are causing global climate change, what would Friedman recommend? ~ Howard D. Greyber, Ph.D. (Physics), San Jose, California (09/30/07)Oops!
Doesn't anyone care about global warming? - No one shows up for learning event at River Bend Nature Center - By DAVID STEINKRAUS, Journal Times - CALEDONIA -- Perhaps the problem on Saturday was that too many people were out enjoying the Earth on a fine, warm autumn day rather than gathering indoors to learn about saving it.
Whatever the reason, no one showed up for a learning session on global warming held at River Bend Nature Center. Perhaps it was because there were also other environmental activities going on around the area, said Adrienne Roach of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. She was seated on a circle of benches with Rebecca Eisel, a volunteer with the National Wildlife Federation, and Kari Olesen of the Sierra Club. Olesen's colleague, Laura Feider, waited outside for people to show up.
It wasn't just global warming that the group was prepared to talk about. They also wanted to tell people about Senate Bill 81, a proposal in the Wisconsin Legislature which would set limits on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The bill would require the Department of Natural Resources to set an emissions limit for 2020 that would be equivalent to the emissions produced in 1990. No later than Jan. 1, 2010, the DNR would have to approve a plan for reducing those emissions using methods that would be feasible and cost-effective.
There was a hearing on the bill on Tuesday, Roach said, before the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. "We only had four people who spoke against, and the other 32 spoke for it."
With Saturday's event a no-go, Eisel was looking ahead a few weeks. Nov. 3 will be the date for Step It Up 2. "It's going to be a call to our leaders to step up their leadership and do something about global warming," she said. The first Step It Up was held in the spring at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Organizers are still looking for a venue for the coming local event, she said. (09/29/07)NewsBusters: WaPo's Inconvenient Truth: No Alarm Sounded on Virginia Sacking Warming Skeptic - By Ken Shepherd - A respected state climatologist resigns his post citing inability to do his job due to political pressure. Sounds exactly like the "inconvenient truth" scenario that Al Gore complained about in his book and documentary. Only thing is in this case it's a Democratic governor, Tim Kaine of Virginia, arguably silencing a climatologist who believes the globe is warming, but that the Gore-ian forecasts of doom are overwrought.
So how did the Washington Post report Dr. Pat Michaels's complaint of political pressure infringing on his academic freedom? By penning an article downplaying an arguable intrusion of political influence in the sanctuary of scientific inquest...more (09/29/07)NewsBusters: NYT Front Page Shocker: Ethanol Causing Rise in World Hunger - By Noel Sheppard - Here's something you don't see every day on the front page of a major American newspaper: an article about how the rising demand for ethanol has sent corn and grain prices so high that it's resulted in more people around the world going hungry.
Even more shocking: the article in question was on the front page of Saturday's New York Times... (09/29/07)NewsBusters: Media Ignore Congressman Dingell's 'Painful' Tax Plan to Solve Global Warming - By Noel Sheppard - It has been regularly reported by NewsBusters that media are doing everything in their power to withhold from the public the financial ramifications of global warming alarmism.
Be it the marketing of totally useless carbon offsets, or proposals for additional taxes on consumers and corporations, press outlets have been seemingly coordinated in their silence regarding such matters.
Another fine example of such a boycott occurred last week when House Energy and Commerce Committee chair John Dingell (D-MI) discussed a rather elaborate tax plan with the Associated Press Wednesday that virtually no major media outlet outside of Detroit bothered to report... (09/29/07)Global warming alarmists have dishonest agenda - By Cleveland Witt - The environmentalists and news media would have you believe the earth is doomed due to global warming.
They claim the earth's temperatures are getting hotter every year, and that 1998 was the hottest year on record.
Many of these claims are based on NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), a U.S. government agency. Its findings have been used and manipulated by insiders and environmentalists for years to promote their agenda as gospel. They claim their position represents scientific consensus.
So what are the facts that we have not been told?
* Temperatures have actually declined over the past two years.
* History records 1934 as the hottest year on record since 1880.
* Four of the hottest years were all in the 1930s - only three were in the last decade. Continued... (09/29/07)NewsBusters: NASA's Hansen Claims He's Being 'Swift-boated' by Critics - By Noel Sheppard - A fascinating new liberal defense mechanism has arisen in the past couple of years: Whenever you want to dodge criticism, just claim you are being swift-boated.
In fact, this has become such a part of political parlance that Microsoft Word now recognizes the term "swift-boated" without highlighting it as errant. Isn't that special?
With that in mind, the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James Hansen, is claiming that recent accusations made about him - that he was involved in a GISS report in 1971 predicting an ice age, and that he received money from multi-billionaire George Soros - are nothing more than swift-boating by his critics. more... (09/29/07)Global Warming: Swift Boating - In my post, "Follow the Money" I point out that the campaign for Global Warming was paid for in large measure by George Soros' money groups. For Global Warming activist James Hansen, that figure is about $720-thousand.
In "Oregon's Energy Policy: It's About Shoes & Stuff" I point out that our state governor's approach to Global Warming as evidenced by his Climate Change Group was flawed.
But the criticism remains. The Global Warming hoax has an agenda. And while complaining about reports on his funding sources--he refers to those who criticize him as "swift-boaters and contrarians"--he actually lets you take a peek at the economic agenda driving the Global Warming Hoax... (09/29/07)Warmist writes dishonest scathing review of Lomborg's new book. This is the most idiotic slanted unobjective review of what is in reality, a very objective and practical look at global warming. This is a perfect example of the global warming jihad's intolerance to anything that deviates from their socialist agenda. Absolutely disgraceful!
The Pollyanna of global warming - ALANNA MITCHELL - In high-school biology class, we used to do an experiment with fruit flies. You put flies and food in a jar, screw the top on tight and wait to see what happens as the flies reproduce like mad.
The goal is to see at what point the limits of the jar - air, food, space - begin to affect the ability of the fruit flies to exist. At some point, the jar becomes inhospitable and the flies die en masse.
If Bjorn Lomborg, Danish author of Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming, were to write up that high-school experiment, he would focus on the point just before the flies began to hit the limits.Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
Bjørn Lomborg
He would wax on about how the population of flies had never been stronger, trot out statistics to show how astoundingly well the population had reproduced over time, and gush boyishly about the excellent living conditions in the jar. And he would be right. Given those facts, examined at that specific point in the arc of the experiment, he would have drawn the correct conclusions.
But he would have missed the facts that the food supply was getting low, that the air was becoming fouled and that fruit-fly catastrophe loomed.
In other words, he would be correct on carefully selected points of fact, but fatally incorrect about the larger picture, or the meaning of the information he was looking at... more (09/29/07)UN and Global-warming Activists Turn Up the Heat
- The United Nations and the environmental lobby are turning up the political heat in preparation for the big UN Climate Change Conference in December on the Indonesian island of Bali. The Bali Conference, says the UN Chronicle Online, "will build upon the political momentum generated by the UN General Assembly thematic debate on 'Climate change as a global challenge' and the high-level meeting on climate change to be convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 24 September." more (09/29/07)No wonder Patrick Moore left these idiots.
Greenpeace Activists Protest US Inaction on Global Warming - Nearly Fifty Arrested at International Climate Meeting at State Department - WASHINGTON, DC - September 28 - Greenpeace USA Executive Director John Passacantando and nearly fifty other activists were arrested at a protest today outside the Bush administration's 'Big Emitters' meeting on global warming as they sent the message: "Bush: Wrong way on global warming." "We're here to register our protest at this charade," Passacantando said. "President Bush is trying to take the world in the wrong direction on global warming, and this meeting is nothing more than a propaganda effort to deflect international criticism." more... (09/28/07)Economic analysis of feebates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from light vehicles for California - By Walter McManus - A growing majority of climate scientists are convinced that unless emissions are reduced, global warming would cause a number of adverse effects throughout the United States. In California, rising temperatures would reduce the snow pack in the Sierra-the state's primary source of water-and lead to less water for irrigating farms in the Central Valley. Global warming would increase the number of extreme heat days and greatly increase the risk of poor air quality across the state. California's 1,100 miles of coastline and coastal communities are vulnerable to rising sea levels. Concerted action could curb global warming, but all sectors would need to take immediate steps to reduce heattrapping pollution. In California, the transportation sector consumes well over half the oil used statewide, and passenger cars and trucks emit 20 to 30 percent of the state's global warming pollution. Vehicles therefore are a central focus of the immediate action required to reduce global warming. The state of California's regulatory approach involves phasing in limits to average global warming emissions from passenger cars and trucks beginning in 2009 and culminating in 2016. This regulation is often called "Pavley," after its author, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley. The federal government's approach provides tax incentives to buyers of hybrid vehicles, which emit significantly lower amounts of global warming pollution than most conventional vehicles. However, the hybrid incentive affects only a small portion of the vehicle market. A third approach that could be used to enhance or replace existing regulations would be a feebates program. A feebates program creates a schedule of both fees and rebates that reflects the amount of global warming pollution that different vehicles emit. Purchasers of new vehicles that emit larger amounts of heat-trapping emissions pay a one-time surcharge at the point of purchase. These surcharges are then used to provide rebates to buyers of new vehicles that emit less pollution. A feebates program has several advantages over other approaches: Market-oriented: A feebates program recognizes the power of price signals to change consumer behavior. That is, incentives spur consumers to purchase and manufactures to produce cleaner vehicles. Self-financing: A feebates program can be designed so that the surcharges collected equal the rebates paid. Affects entire market: A feebates program applies to all new vehicles-clean and dirty-spurring a transformation of the entire market. Consumer choice: A feebates program can be designed so that consumers have the option to buy vehicles that carry no surcharge in each vehicle class, such as cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), and minivans. This study explores the economic impacts on consumers and manufacturers of the existing Pavley regulation and a feebates program by analyzing four alternative scenarios, using information from 2002 as the base year. Our findings show that a feebates program is an effective strategy to reduce global warming pollution by up to 25% more than Pavley alone. Also, under a feebates program consumers will save thousands of dollars and retailers will see their revenue rise by as much as 6%. (09/27/07)
Warmists can't get their 'facts' straight - Two unrelated articles, both appearing today September 28, both warning of the impending man-made CO2 climate "catastrophe", but they seem to have trouble agreeing on their facts.
Needless to say, there is a huge difference between 3 billion and 8 billion tons. Which one is right? It really diesn't matter, does it?
Global warming, Kyoto Protocol and developing countries - Md. Asadullah Khan - ...A cursory look at the world consumption of fossil fuels will reveal that we are adding a net three billion tons a year of carbons to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons popularly known as CFCs...
How to End Global Warming - By Jeremy J. Siegel - ...Key facts: I believe that global warming is real, that it stems mostly from the increase in greenhouse gases and that it does pose a long-term threat. The basic facts are well known. The world is pumping about 8 billion tons of carbon emissions from fossil fuels into the atmosphere each year, up nearly 500% from 1950...
Newsbusters: Will Media Report Flaw in Manmade Ozone Hole Consensus? - By Noel Sheppard - One of the most disgraceful assertions from global warming alarmists such as soon-to-be-Nobel Laureate Al Gore is that a scientific consensus exists concerning man's role in climate change.
Of course, skeptics around the world accurately counter that science isn't accomplished by a show of hands, and that until it can be proven that man is indeed responsible for the slight increase in global average temperatures in the past 100 years, the percentage of people who "feel" that way is totally irrelevant.
With that in mind, a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature (subscription required) tears apart the "scientific consensus" regarding the cause of a hole in the ozone layer, and should act as a warning to folks claiming that the climate change debate is over, assuming of course the media pay any attention to this paper... (09/28/07)Newsbusters: Activist Jane Goodall Condemned Biofuels for Hurting Rainforest - By Lynn Davidson - Say goodbye to the Great Green Hope. Biofuels are on the endangered list, although the media in America won't tell you that. Reuters reported in its September 26 article that Jane Goodall, the internationally famous primate scientist and environmental icon who presented at Al Gore's Live Earth, added her criticism of vegetable-based biofuels to a growing list experts... (09/28/07)
One of my all time favorite musicians turns out to be a warmist, kind of...but I'm not holding it against him
Global warming on the mind of well-heeled Tull vocalist - By Adrian Chamberlain, - Feeling like a dead duck. Spitting out pieces of his broken luck ~ from Aqualung by Jethro TullJethro Tull's most celebrated hit is Aqualung. The classic rock tune is notable for its gonzo guitar riffs and lyrics about an ill-fortuned tramp eyeing little girls with "bad intent."
It was written by Tull vocalist/flautist Ian Anderson -- a man who has certainly had his share of good luck.
Take, for instance, his home in Wiltshire, in southwest England. It is a 1751 stately manor surrounded by 400 acres of bucolic English countryside, four cottages, a helicopter pad and a $1.5-million swimming pool.
Not too shabby.
"I know we have 15 toilets," said Anderson, 60, phoning from his home. "I know because I counted them."
Ian AndersonHis two grown-up children recently moved out, so these days the house is inhabited by just Anderson and wife Shona. They live mostly in a few rooms, with the rest of the 11-bedroom mansion permanently under lock and key.
It's a safe bet that Anderson, who penned the bulk of Jethro Tull's material, has plenty of moolah (or "dosh" as he calls it). Known as a canny businessman, he has owned several salmon farms -- reportedly selling one for more than $20 million in the late 1990s. And although Jethro Tull hasn't scored a hit single in years, it's still a solid concert draw, as the sold-out show at the Royal Theatre attests.
During a 25-minute interview, Anderson -- talkative and cheerful -- seemed at odds with his material wealth and public image.
Although his manor is outfitted with energy-efficient lightbulbs and heat-saving insulation, Anderson fretted about the pollution he's leaving. Factoring in his global tours, he figures his carbon footprint is 20 times that of the typical person.
"I'm travelling for the fun of making music. It's a pretty flippant occupation, really." more (09/28/07)Two warmist elite "peas in a pod"...
Bloomberg at Home With Bill Clinton - By SARA KUGLER - NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a Republican and he's now an independent. But on Thursday he cozied up to the Democrats' biggest star.
Bloomberg joined former President Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative conference at a session billed as a BBC debate over global warming.
Instead, the pair were in constant agreement, leaving the host, Zeinab Badawi, playing the role of devil's advocate.
Throughout the hourlong discussion, Badawi persisted with questions based on the argument that addressing climate change will hurt economic growth.
At times, Clinton shook his head, Bloomberg sighed and both interrupted her to try to argue that there are sustainable solutions that are economically good for the private and public sectors, such as energy-saving light bulbs.
Badawi said she was simply representing the position taken by many and reflected in "the Bush administration line about 'We care about global warming, but we care about economic growth.'"
Clinton responded: "We care about economic growth, too. We think it is the way to economic growth."
Then Badawi noted Clinton's now famous mantra - "It's the economy, stupid" - from his 1992 presidential campaign.
"That's right," the former president shot back, "and with all respect, I think my opinions on the economy are entitled to at least as much respect as these naysayers that are in control now."
Badawi tried to respond, but Bloomberg interjected: "Remember, he got elected, they didn't," an apparent crack about the disputed 2000 presidential election that sent George W. Bush to the White House. How pathetic. They'll never get over Al Gore's defeat, even though there has been over 50 independent recounts in Florida. NOT ONE showed that Gore beat Bush.
Bloomberg, who also has been a Democrat, is now a potential third-party candidate for president who is always trying to burnish his nonpartisan credentials. This week, he also spent time with President Bush, who was in town for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. (09/28/07)A Whole New World? - The climate debate could be changing - By Ben Lieberman - Global warming is a complex issue to figure out, but one thing about it is actually quite simple - discerning which side dominates the debate right now. For the past year, those who view global warming as a crisis justifying a major federal response have had just about everything going in their favor.
Granted, the Bush administration continues to resist first-ever mandatory limits on carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, but the Democratically controlled Congress has introduced a number of so-called cap-and-trade bills to do just that. Some of them have bipartisan support. And many of the leading presidential candidates have endorsed these efforts.
Several other factors, including a recent Supreme Court decision compelling the Environmental Protection Agency to consider global warming measures, as well as state and local efforts to bypass the feds and impose their own controls, all seem to be forcing Washington's hand... (09/28/07)Series on global warming "optimists" looks at sun spots and cosmic rays - I was a little bit surprised last week to see a story in the Christian Science Monitor titled "Might warming be normal". It featured doubters of human-caused climate change, including George Taylor from Oregon State University who I had the opportunity to watch in a debate earlier this year... (09/27/07)
Newsbusters: Ann Curry Kisses for Global Warming Cause - By Geoffrey Dickens - If you've got an extra-billion dollars laying around and you happen to be a fan of "Today" co-host Ann Curry, just donate that extra cash at a Bill Clinton-fronted foundation conference and you may just get a kiss from her... (09/27/07)
Latest Global Warming Alarmists' Talking Point: "Carbon Dioxide levels are higher than they've been in the last 600,000 years" - Yes but temperature is not! I should leave it here but I can't resist...
I feel the need to respond to this one since it's so easy. Below is letter that appeared in today's Modesto Bee. Who reads that anyway? You'll have to ask the Google Gods why the Modesto Bee and other insignificant small pissant Northern California papers appear so prominently in their search results...but I digress. Ironically in his letter, Mr. Kirkbridge attacks the messenger for attacking the messenger. But let's begin...
Killing global warming messenger - In "Don't buy the hype on global warming" - (Sept. 17, Page B-5), Jay Ambrose makes the common mistake of killing the messenger, Al Gore, whose prominence and passion have led him to add his voice to those of thousands of scientists worldwide. Gore didn't invent the science (or the internet) of studying ice-core samples taken worldwide that show carbon dioxide far exceeding anything in the last 600,000 years, as well as those samples showing rising temperatures. True, but what Al Gore did do in his movie was deliberately misrepresent what the ice core records revealed -- that temperature ie. warming, drives carbon dioxide levels (higher), not the other way around. The ice core records show that temperature warms first, then after several hundred years, CO2 levels rise. This is undisputed and been been found in every single ice core sample to date. The reason for this in theory, is because the oceans are so vast, that it takes several hundred years for them to warm significantly enough to begin to release more carbon dioxide.
Ambrose points out the few spikes in temperature before 1940 and says, "See there!" Had he been a scientist, he would have recognized nature's variabilities with or without human intervention and, looking at all science over the long run, would have come to the same conclusions that the vast majority of scientists have arrived at -- human activity in all its shapes and forms are driving the warming of the planet beyond anything ever recorded. Wrong! This one is simply untrue. Temperatures have been warmer than today at many times in Earth's long history. Several thousand years ago during the the Holocene Maximum temperatures were significantly higher -- and by the way, the polar bears as well as humans, did survive this "catastrophy", obviously.
And as recently 1000 years ago during the Medieval Warm Period temperatures were also higher than they are today. The warmists are now attempting to rewrite history on the Medieval Warm Period by claiming that during the Period temperatures were not higher than today or by asserting that the temperature records during the Medieval Warm Period do not represent "global" temperatures accurately. Even without the Medieval Warm Period, there is no dispute that during the Holocene Maximum, global temperatures were significantly higher than today, and CO2 concentrations were significantly lower. "See there!"
The now infamous "Hockey Stick" grapgh: Notice that the Medieval Warm Period has mysteriously disappeared!Ambrose is right about some of the directions we are following to achieve oil independence with regards to ethanol. This country and the world must identify all causes of warming and work at sensible solutions that don't create undue hardships on any one country. But solutions without some sacrifice are unrealistic. ~ WAYNE KIRKBRIDE, Twain Harte. (09/27/07)
Business leaders to lawmakers: Don't act alone on global warming - Associated Press - DENVER (AP) - Business leaders say they realize something must be done to curtail global warming. But Peter O'Connor of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry says they're worried that Colorado lawmakers will set tougher standards than other states, which could drive up costs and hurt their competitiveness. (09/27/07)
PC and global warming - We shouldn't become too politically correct about the environment and global warming, writes Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, in FAKT, a conservative tabloid newspaper.
As a matter of fact, he claims, global warming in recent years, decades and centuries has been slight and hasn't had any real influence on people and their activity, says Mr Klaus. The serious debate concerning reasons and implications of climate changes is underway and it would be premature to settle the question now. Unfortunately, that's what the world is already doing. The United Nations should listen to both sides of the discussion and they should be treated equally, which also means equal financial support for both of them, says Vaclav Klaus... (09/27/07)Beyond Kyoto - By Samuel Thernstrom - Will George Bush salvage his legacy on climate change?
Later today, President Bush will deliver what may be the most important environmental speech of his administration, as he addresses participants at an international White House summit on global warming. Key developing nations such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and South Korea will be at the table, along with Australia, Russia, and the European Union, ready to hear the president's ideas about alternatives to the Kyoto Protocol. It remains to be seen, however, whether Bush will propose truly bold policy options that might actually change the way people think about warming - and even if he does, whether anyone is still listening.[...]
Pressure on America to return to the Kyoto fold will only grow over the next two years. Absent an alternative, it is nearly certain that Kyoto II will be more of the same - attractive symbolism that overlooks the inconvenient truth: We cannot stop global climate change through short-term emissions reductions. Due to our technological and economic constraints, such reductions would only slow warming by an infinitesimal amount. The Kyoto Protocol and its successor agreements, well-intentioned though they may be, have about as much chance of stopping global warming as the United Nations has of stopping war. We may spend billions trying to cut emissions, but there is no realistic chance of success... (09/27/07)Global Warming- Do You Care? - Uh, no. Our MTV Switch campaign survey reveals a shocking result...
MTV Switch has launched this week to promote the climate change with the scary results of a worldwide survey.
We quizzed thousands of young adults and children from 14 countries around the globe about what worried them most about the future.
The USA youth thought of environmental issues last followed closely by the UK said the poll.
Young people in less developed countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico think about the environment most, says the survey.
Switch is a call to action asking you- Britain's youth to pledge their support by agreeing to act greener by taking their iPods, mobile phones and TVs off standby and being more eco-aware round the house. (09/27/07)Key Brit Faults Bush on Global Warming - On the eve of a meeting of world leaders on climate change to be hosted by the Bush administration, a top British diplomat who will participate spoke out forcefully against a voluntary approach to attacking global warming.
The White House has made clear in briefings leading up to its Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change that it intends to tout the success of voluntary steps to cut greenhouse gases in the sessions on Thursday and Friday in Washington. But John Ashton, a leading environmental adviser to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, at a forum sponsored by the nonprofit United Nations Foundation, said such an approach would be insufficient, given the magnitude of the problem of reducing fossil fuel emissions.
"Are we going to bind ourselves to doing this, and doing it quickly, or are we just going to do what's easy to do, what's convenient, what's voluntary?" asked Ashton. "The word voluntary means what you can do without heavy lifting, what you can do without mobilization of real political imagination. It's not going to crack this problem." Hey Ashton, until you (end every one else in this world) start paying taxes in the United States, anything we (the US) do will be voluntary. Our backs are already sore from doing all the heaving lifting over the last century. (09/26/07)Absurd Global Warming "Solution" of the day...
Giant Ocean Tubes Proposed as Global Warming Fix - By Kate Ravilious for National Geographic News - Imagine an ocean full of giant pipes that pump up cold, nutrient-rich water from deep below, encouraging surface algae to bloom and suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
That's the controversial new vision of James Lovelock, the independent British scientist best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, and Chris Rapley, a space physicist and director of London's Science Museum.
The pair claims that such climate engineering solutions may be the only way to hold global warming at bay given its current progress. (See a global warming interactive.)
"Global warming appears to be an irreversible process, and if we don't do anything then the world will just heat up to a stable, hot state," Lovelock said. "The stakes are now so high that we have to act."
But other experts are skeptical, pointing out that the scheme could release more carbon than it absorbs while putting fragile marine life in danger... (09/26/07)NewsBusters: NASA's Hansen Mentioned in Soros Foundations Annual Report - By Noel Sheppard - As NewsBuster Jake Gontesky reported, an editorial in Investor's Business Daily Monday claimed one of billionaire leftist George Soros's foundations gave $720,000 in 2006 to the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James Hansen.
Since this editorial was published, according to LexisNexis and Google News searches, not one major media outlet has reported these allegations.
Maybe even more shocking is that had press outlets looked into this matter - you know, acted like journalists instead of advocates! - they would have found Hansen's name prominently mentioned in the 2006 Soros Foundations Network Report (relevant section on page 123):
Scientist Protests NASA's Censorship Attempts -
James E. Hansen, the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, protested attempts to silence him after officials at NASA ordered him to refer press inquiries to the public affairs office and required the presence of a public affairs representative at any interview. The Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization and OSI grantee, came to Hansen's defense by providing legal and media advice. The campaign on Hansen's behalf resulted in a decision by NASA to revisit its media policy.
Fascinating, wouldn't you agree?
Here, in Soros Foundations' annual report, is a direct connection to Hansen, along with an admission that "The campaign on Hansen's behalf resulted in a decision by NASA to revisit its media policy."
As is typical, a global warming obsessed media don't find this newsworthy. Think they'd be so disinterested if this smoking gun involved an oil company giving money to a Republican official?
While you ponder, forward to page 143 (emphasis added):
note: The Strategic Opportunities Fund includes grants related to Hurricane Katrina ($1,652,841); media policy ($1,060,000); and politicization of science ($720,000).
Add it all up, and everything the IBD editorial claimed - that a high-ranking official at NASA may have received money from an organization funded by George Soros in order to politicize science -- is actually available in this annual report.
Yet, not one media outlet thought this was newsworthy.
How disgraceful. (09/26/07)The Real James "Hack" Hansen
Newsbusters: Is Global Warming Alarmist James Hansen a Shill for George Soros? - By Jake Gontesky - The claims against anthropogenic global warming skeptics are often the same: they're all shills for big oil or other industry wishing to poke holes in the 'consensus theory' of global warming (which isn't a consensus at all). Under the so-called "politicization of science" program, George Soros' (the favorite fundraiser of many democrats) has reportedly given as much as $720,000 to Hansen to help package his alarmist claims and get them pushed by the mainstream media (The Soros Threat to Democracy):How many people, for instance, know that James Hansen, a man billed as a lonely "NASA whistleblower" standing up to the mighty U.S. government, was really funded by Soros' Open Society Institute , which gave him "legal and media advice"?
That's right, Hansen was packaged for the media by Soros' flagship "philanthropy," by as much as $720,000, most likely under the OSI's "politicization of science" program.
So he got some big paychecks from Soros - but was there a quid pro quo? The evidence certainly indicates as much:
That may have meant that Hansen had media flacks help him get on the evening news to push his agenda and lawyers pressuring officials to let him spout his supposedly "censored" spiel for weeks in the name of advancing the global warming agenda.
Hansen even succeeded, with public pressure from his nightly news performances, in forcing NASA to change its media policies to his advantage. Had Hansen's OSI-funding been known, the public might have viewed the whole production differently. The outcome could have been different.
Did Soros' funding pay off? You be the judge. Do a quick google search on James Hansen to read any of the thousands of mainstream media stories touting Hansen's claims of censorship by the Bush administration. This wouldn't be the first time credibility questions have been raised regarding Hansen and his alarmist claims [see "When does 1,400 Media Interviews = Muzzled" (03/20/07)].
But the alarmist's favorite poster-boy James Hansen is hardly the only benefactor of Soros' funding designed to get more media play for politicized topics important to the left - check out the full article for more on the non-disclosure disclosures regarding immigration and other big topics of the day.
___________________Jake Gontesky routinely writes columns exploring the mainstream media coverage of the global warming debate and other topics in the world of atmospheric science. As a meteorologist, his viewpoints are frequently explored from a scientific standpoint rather than a purely political one. Read more at Notes in the Margin. (09/26/07)
Will Media Expose Global Warming Alarmism's Ties to Child Labor Exploitation? - By Noel Sheppard - Assume for a moment that one of the world's leading oil companies was identified to be using child laborers in various countries in order to cut payroll costs. Do you think that would be front page, headline news in the States?
Well, it appears that the carbon offset scam, devised largely to assuage the environmental guilt of wealthy people, is resulting in the exploitation of children in India. Yet, it seems a metaphysical certitude that global warming obsessed media won't bat an eye.
Why might that be?... (09/26/07)Climate Quote Of The Day - Carbon Dioxide Levels are now higeher than at any point in the last 650,000 years ~ Global Warming Solutions (GWSO) But the temperature is NOT!
Global Warming Solutions Introduces ''LETG'' Solar Technology - Global Warming Solutions, Inc. (Pink Sheets:GWSO) ? a developer of technologies aimed at mitigating the effects of global warming ? today introduced a technology targeting the development of clean, environmentally-friendly solar power for commercial and residential use.
LETG ? an acronym for Light Electric and Thermal Generator ? is a new technology with an important mission: To maximize the electrical and thermal energy derived from sunlight. LETG utilizes a hybrid system to produce electricity year round even in low sunlight regions.
Recent awareness of climate change has sparked renewed interest in energy from the sun, a virtually inexhaustible energy source.
The challenge of solar power has always been the need to produce energy efficiently,? says Dr. Vladimir Vasilenko, Chief Executive Officer of Global Warming Solutions.Understanding and Installing
Your Own
Solar Electric SystemRecent awareness of climate change has sparked renewed interest in energy from the sun, a virtually inexhaustible energy source.
The challenge of solar power has always been the need to produce energy efficiently,? says Dr. Vladimir Vasilenko, Chief Executive Officer of Global Warming Solutions. (09/26/07)Global Warming Not Affected by Man - By: Philip V. Brennan - The mass hysteria over the alleged warming of the planet, with everyone from the president to, reportedly, the Pope buying into the global warming alarms and calling for Draconian steps to stop Mother Nature from turning up the thermostat reminds me of one of the more bizarre examples of widespread panic created by a fictional crisis. (09/26/07)
An excellent "common sense" article.
Global Warming Skeptics Not the Same as 'Deniers' - By Tibor R. Machan - Someone I know in the community of academic philosophers who works mostly in environmental ethics recently labeled me a "global warming denier" because I - along with quite a few lay and expert individuals interested in the topic - am skeptical about the human contribution to global warming and related environmentalist contentions. (09/26/07)The Clothesline Makes A Comeback : "Right To Dry" Movement Promotes Clotheslines As Energy-Saving Devices - (Christian Science Monitor) By Caitlin Carpenter - It started out innocently enough. Concerned about global warming and her family's energy consumption, Michelle Baker wanted to hang her wash outside. She scoured stores for a clothesline durable enough to withstand Vermont winters and classy enough for her Waterbury backyard. She came back empty-handed every time.
So Ms. Baker and her husband made their own: a few lines of pristine white rope hung between two Vermont cedar poles. Soon, friends and neighbors were enviously asking where they got it. Born of enterprise, enthusiasm, and wet shirts flapping in the breeze, the Vermont Clothesline Co. debuted in April.
And just in time, as a national clothesline - or "Right to Dry" - movement escalates. In fact, Vermont is the latest state to introduce a bill that would override clothesline bans, which are often instituted by community associations loath to air laundry even when it's clean. Now, clothesline restrictions may be headed the way of bans on parking pickup trucks in front of homes, or growing grass too long - all vestiges of trim and tidy hopes that may not fit with the renewed emphasis on going green.
"This trend ... is about people making a little change to help the environment as opposed to something like solar panels which is much more of an investment," Baker says.
Baker's orders have steadily risen. While most initial buyers were fellow Vermonters, the company now receives orders from across the United States, including such places as Tennessee, Texas and Arkansas.
Over in New Hampshire, clothesline activists have asked for legislative advice from Project Laundry List - the first U.S. clothesline activist group, according to the group's founder, Alexander Lee. And North Carolina recently passed a law invalidating city or county limitations on "energy devices based on the use of renewable resources." In addition, the clothesline movement there is hoping to find a "test case" to legally establish clothesline rights in North Carolina, Mr. Lee says.
"We get e-mails and calls every day from people wanting to know where they can get the materials to hang out their clothes or how to deal with homeowners' association rules," says Bryan Wentzell, the group's chairman of the board. "[The Right to Dry movement] could take off all across the country," he says, noting that independent states like Vermont will be the first to jump on the bandwagon."
Maybe. In June, Vermont's Gov. Jim Douglas (R) vetoed an energy bill with Right to Dry language - though not because of the clothesline clause, according to state Sen. Dick McCormack (D). Proponents are now revising a bill to be introduced in January, one similar to legislation in Florida and Utah that prohibits "state or local laws or regulations or private contracts from limiting the ability of dwellers to erect and use clotheslines for the drying of clothes."
Dryer Data
At last count, in 2005, there were 88 million dryers in the US, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. Annually, these dryers consume 1,079 kilowatt hours of energy per household, creating 2,224 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions.
Besides the global-warming and cost-saving aspects of clotheslines, proponents say hanging out clothes requires exercise and time outside - elements that are missing from many Americans' lives. "So much of our lives have become automated," Mr. Wentzell says. Plus, using a clothesline makes "your clothes last longer and smell better."
Despite clotheslines' purported benefits - and a scent that can rival dryer sheets' "fresh rain" fragrance - "the overwhelming majority" of community associations regulate or ban them, says Frank Rathbun, vice president of communications for the Community Associations Institute in Virginia. Sixty million Americans belong to one of 300,000 homeowners' associations, according to the institute, a national organization of community association leaders and management firms.
The rules exist for aesthetics, residents' expectations and property values, Mr. Rathbun says: Environmental leanings have to be balanced against the desires of those who find their neighbors' blue jeans, khakis, and the occasional flannel nightgown to be unseemly, unsightly, or both.
Senator McCormack dismisses such concerns. Amid growing concern about global warming, he says, governments have a responsibility to protect people's right to voluntarily conserve, if not actively support energy conservation.
On Sept. 14, Project Laundry List will participate in an event at the energy company Hydro-Québec, protesting the diverting and damming of the Rupert River. Such damming would not have to occur, Lee says, if people adopted energy-saving methods like clotheslines. The group will display messages on T-shirts and sheets hung from - what else? - a 400-foot clothesline.
The group is getting the word out through other art forms, too. Several painters and quilters who specialize in depictions of clotheslines have donated work to Project Laundry List to be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the cause.
And, hoping for more, Wentzell is thinking outside the box and beyond the laundry room: "Hey, maybe we'll get some celebrities taking up the cause by hanging out their laundry behind their mansions!" (09/26/07)
Copyright © 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
And then there's this!
Clothesline regulation hangs the environment out to dry : Laundry - A Bend woman discovers that aesthetics outweigh her energy-saving efforts in an upscale neighborhood - By MATTHEW PREUSCH The Oregonian Staff - BEND -- A Bend woman is facing possible legal action for hanging her laundry out to dry.
Susan Taylor, who lives in the upscale Awbrey Butte neighborhood, says she's trying to do the right thing for the planet by stringing up her family's clothes. But in doing so she's violating rules meant to keep up appearances in her subdivision, which means she might become a martyr in the so-called right-to-dry movement.
The trouble began last spring after Taylor, 55, decided to do her part to address global warming by stringing up her family's clothes between the pines behind their 2,400-square-foot house.
"This is the right thing to do with what's going on with our climate," said the part-time nurse, standing beside her Toyota hybrid sedan.
But neighbors soon complained.
In June, Taylor got a letter from the neighborhood's developer, Bend Brooks Resources Corp., saying she was violating Awbrey Butte's covenants, conditions and restrictions. LMAO! (09/25/07)NYT's Environmental Writer Paid $12,500 to Speak About Global Warming - By Noel Sheppard - NewsBusters readers are aware that one of my contentions concerning global warming alarmism is that those involved are doing it for the money.
Well, this editorial from the Olympian in Washington state will give you an idea that it's not just folks like Al Gore, Laurie David, and carbon offset marketers that are cashing in on this scam.
Now, media members are getting into the act as well. (09/25/07)No imminent threat to Siachen glacier due to global warming - Manali, Sept. 25 (PTI): Contrary to the concerns raised by scientists over the adverse effect of global warming on the Siachen glacier, temperatures at the world's highest and coldest battlefield are indeed falling.
This is revealed by the country's eminent glacial scientist, R N Sarvade, the Director of Manali-based Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE).
According to Sarvade, temperatures recorded in Siachen have maintained a receding trend over the years.
However, the findings were yet to be confirmed as the team was still continuing its studies, the scientist said.
"We need to analyse our recordings over a longer period of time," Sarvade said in a presentation made to the visiting Minister of State for Defence, M M Pallam Raju here.
What the findings could mean is that while scientists are raising concern over the receding glaciers, especially in the Himalayas, there appears to be no erosion in the size of the 72-km long glacier, the second largest in the eastern Karakorams. (09/25/07)Ladies and gentlemen, we have a consensus! Nearly 8 out of 10 of you are stupid enough to believe in the CO2 Boogeyman.
BBC survey: Humans cause global warming - (UPI) -- A British Broadcasting Corp. poll finds 79 percent of people in 21 nations believe human activity causes global warming.
The BBC's World Service poll indicates nine of 10 say action is needed to address global warming, with 65 percent choosing the strongest position, saying, "It is necessary to take major steps starting very soon." (09/25/07)
But...
Global warming leaves Russians cold - By Artyom Liss, BBC News, Moscow - More than 50% of Russians asked about global warming say they haven't heard much about it, according to a BBC World Service poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries.
The Russian media focus on what seem to be more pressing problems.
There are burning social issues, there's uncertainty about the security, there's a falling-out with the West, and, crucially, it is a very cold country.
A meteorologist in Arkhangelsk, in the north of Russia, once told me: "I know global warming is a problem, but I would welcome a bit of warmth up here. Then I could grow my own tomatoes."
We spoke as we stood on ice in the middle of the frozen Dvina river. The temperature was approaching -25C...Global Warming Hysteria - By Walter E. Williams - Despite increasing evidence that man-made CO2 is not a significant greenhouse gas and contributor to climate change, politicians and others who wish to control our lives must maintain that it is... (09/25/07)
Klaus challenges global-warming theory at UN - Prematurely proclaiming victory for either side in the warming debate would be a "tragic mistake", Klaus said.New York, Sept 24 (CTK) - "The increase in global temperatures has been in the last years, decades and centuries very small in historical comparisons and practically negligible in its actual impact upon human beings and their activities," Czech President Vaclav Klaus said at the world politicians' meeting on global warming today... (09/25/07)
The Soros Threat To Democracy - By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY - Democracy: George Soros is known for funding groups such as MoveOn.org that seek to manipulate public opinion. So why is the billionaire's backing of what he believes in problematic? In a word: transparency.
George Soros & MoveOn.org: Exclusive Series
How many people, for instance, know that James Hansen, a man billed as a lonely "NASA whistleblower" standing up to the mighty U.S. government, was really funded by Soros' Open Society Institute , which gave him "legal and media advice"?
That's right, Hansen was packaged for the media by Soros' flagship "philanthropy," by as much as $720,000, most likely under the OSI's "politicization of science" program.
That may have meant that Hansen had media flacks help him get on the evening news to push his agenda and lawyers pressuring officials to let him spout his supposedly "censored" spiel for weeks in the name of advancing the global warming agenda.
Hansen even succeeded, with public pressure from his nightly news performances, in forcing NASA to change its media policies to his advantage. Had Hansen's OSI-funding been known, the public might have viewed the whole production differently. The outcome could have been different.
That's not the only case. Didn't the mainstream media report that 2006's vast immigration rallies across the country began as a spontaneous uprising of 2 million angry Mexican-flag waving illegal immigrants demanding U.S. citizenship in Los Angeles, egged on only by a local Spanish-language radio announcer?
Turns out that wasn't what happened, either. Soros' OSI had money-muscle there, too, through its $17 million Justice Fund. The fund lists 19 projects in 2006. One was vaguely described involvement in the immigration rallies. Another project funded illegal immigrant activist groups for subsequent court cases.
So what looked like a wildfire grassroots movement really was a manipulation from OSI's glassy Manhattan offices. The public had no way of knowing until the release of OSI's 2006 annual report. More. (09/24/07)Climate Justice? Doesn't the word "justice" imply that a crime has been committed? It's no surprise that these environmental groups view Westernization as an injustice. After all Friends of the Earth was formed because the Sierra Club wasn't extreme enough for it's founder...
Africa: Climate Justice Needed to Address Global Warming - Friends of the Earth (London) - ..."Industrialised nations which have contributed disproportionately to climate change must take lead in radically reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases," said Meena Raman, Chair of Friends of the Earth International in New York. [...]
"The United States must join the rest of the world in tackling climate change within the United Nations framework, instead of promoting purely voluntary measures that will not achieve necessary emissions reductions", said Elizabeth Bast of Friends of the Earth US in Washington.
"The major economies meeting is another attempt by the Bush administration to send the world the 'wrong way' in the global fight against climate change," she added.
Friends of the Earth and other organizations will be rallying outside the 'major economies' talks in Washington on Friday Sept.28 by holding 'wrong way' signs. Of course they will. Climate change is George Bush's fault you know... (09/24/07)Global Warming: Now the Media Get Religion - By Matthew Sheffield - In recent years, the liberal press has become increasingly upset with conservative religious people who maintain the rightfulness of having their political views stem from their religious ones on issues like abortion, gay rights, and welfare. Such views, according to the media, are illegitmate and even threaten the balance of church and state within our society.
Trouble is, though, liberal journalists don't apply this standard consistently. While the media are adamantly opposed to religious motivations on cultural issues, rarely do you hear the media grouse about Christians and Jews who oppose capital punishment on religious grounds. That's because religion is like anything else to the radical left--a means to an end. In the eyes of the media, the moral value of anything or anyone is directly proportional to its usefulness to liberalism.
It's for this reason that I highly doubt you'll hear any complaints from the press gallery about the latest initiative of Pope Benedict XVI, promoting the idea of human-caused global warming: ...more (09/24/07)Reuters: Bush Pulled United States Out of Kyoto - By Richard Newcomb - Journalists like to tell us about their professionalism and the many layers of editors that ensure their accuracy. However, somewhere in those layers of editors, have reporters lost the ability to perform basic research? In the case of Reuters reporter Jeff Mason, it would seem to be so. Mason wrote an article on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Monday speech on global warming, in which he wrote,
President George W. Bush pulled the United States out of the Kyoto accord, saying it unfairly burdened rich countries while exempting developing countries like China and India.
This is a startling revision of history. Apparently Mason forgot, if he ever knew, that although then-President Bill Clinton signed Kyoto, he never submitted the Kyoto treaty to the Senate for ratification. And according to Wikipedia's entry for Kyoto,
The United States (U.S.), although a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the Protocol. The signature alone is symbolic, as the Kyoto Protocol is non-binding on the United States unless ratified. Story continues... (09/24/07)The Top 100 Effects of Global Warming - This piece (of shit) is from the Center for American Progress Action Fund's Mic Check Radio. Global Warming Wrecks All the Fun. So now that Hillary is a shoe-in for the Democratic Nomination, this is how John Podesta and friends are going to spend their time??? (09/24/07)
The most hysterical article of the day belongs to Dr. Phillip S. Chua. This greenie takes the "Chicken Little First Prize" for his ability to pack the most nonsensical doom and gloom hyperbole into a single article. Even I'm scared now...NOT!
HEART TO HEART TALK: Destroying our planet - By Dr. Philip S. Chua, Cebu Daily News - Our planet would be at an imminent grave risk of being destroyed, if Global Warming, more appropriately termed Climate Change, continues unabated. And like the multitudes of problems threatening the world, this major one is caused by its intelligent inhabitant, man himself, and his careless and irresponsible behavior, especially in the last two hundred some years. Human beings are not new to self-abuse, self-destruction, and to irreverence to his environment, in spite of their education, culture, and massive data in this age of exploding informational technology and mind-boggling advances in science and medicine.
Man's self-abuse and rape of his environment are almost certain to doom the world he lives in, unless he listens to Mother Nature and promptly starts to take a wise proactive strategy in dealing with his present ecologic dilemma. Man cannot afford to lose this one, his only sanctuary in the galaxy. And what's happening is scary. Read on, there's more. (09/24/07)Tornadoes: Global warming 'not to blame' - By Philip Eden - Whenever the UK experiences "freak" weather conditions such as the tornadoes which hit England, forecasters like myself are inevitably asked two questions: is global warming to blame, and are such events becoming more commonplace?
The simple answer to both questions is no.
Britain has always experienced tornadoes, usually between September and December, and often in swarms, where several tornadoes form in quick succession, as we saw yesterday.
Although they can form under thunder clouds in spring and summer, it is more usual for tornadoes to occur when a cold front meets warmer weather coming from a different direction and causes a sudden change in wind direction and severe gusts of wind, some of which can become tornadoes.
This is exactly what happened today, when tornadoes formed on a cold front which marked the boundary between a humid air-mass coming up from the tropics, which had brought temperatures as high as 23C, and polar air-mass with temperatures around 10C which had travelled down from Greenland.
Although some of the damage caused may have been down to conventional gusts of wind (often called straight-line winds in the business) others were undoubtedly tornadoes, judging by eyewitness reports.
I repeat, however, that global warming is not to blame; these tornadoes were caused by nothing more sinister than what we would refer to as weather... (09/24/07)Scientists Speak Out Against AP's Climate Change Fear-mongering - By Noel Sheppard - Scientists from all over the world are coming out strongly against an inexcusably hysterical article recently published by the planet's leading wire service.
As NewsBusters reported Saturday, the Associated Press published an unbelievably disgraceful article about global warming induced sea level rises supposedly destined to wipe out large amounts of American coastal communities in the next 100 years...more (09/24/07)Letters to the Observer: Global warming theory is a scam - Congratulations to whoever devised the man-caused global warming theory. It is the almost perfect scam.
I have some questions about how global warming works. Do schools get grants for exposing students to global warming propaganda?
Does the Weather Channel get anything other than the hope of better ratings for slanting their reporting and encouraging the payment of carbon offsets? Has anyone noticed the change of their background to a very warm and unbecoming shade of orange?
Does anyone really believe that minuscule mankind can alter the climate?
Other than lining the pockets of the global warming creators and trying to convince the population that global warming is a reality, what are the monies collected to save the world used for?
If we accept this theory, we can be manipulated, regulated, fined and taxed, not to mention have fault found with just about anything we do by those in charge.
An increase in the carbon dioxide level is said to be the cause of global warming. Since human beings take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, we had better pray for a cooling trend, because someone has finally figured out how to charge us for the air we breathe.
I said this was an almost perfect scam. It will only continue to work if people believe it. This one is in the same league as the one in which the perpetrator said that if you tell a big enough lie long enough, people will believe. ~ Charlotte Bridgeman, Fayetteville (09/24/07)Global warming letter was refreshing to read - I just wanted to say that it was great that you printed a letter about global warming from an intelligent person (Jeffrey Murray's Sept. 15 letter, "Global warming is natural process").
Most of the media only repeat what Al Gore is spewing: untruths. Everything that he says can be repudiated.
Please read a book called "Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years" by Dennis T. Avery and S. Fred Singer. Everyone can do their part to make our environment better without scare tactics. ~ Mike Podrybau, Salem (09/24/07)Letters: Warnings about global warming a lot of hot air - Political motivation has fragmented society and clouded judgment leading to misplaced priorities.
A case in point is Joseph Janssen's statement in his Sept. 11 letter that global warming is "by far the greatest threat to our security, prosperity and stability." The only plausible scenario where this might be true is if the alarmists win the debate. Good people are already losing jobs because of their opposition to the hysteria.
The alarmist position on global warming has two major flaws - perspective and hypocrisy. Accepting that global warming exists and assuming that mankind has some responsibility, the claims about its dire consequences such as a catastrophic rise in sea levels is a stretch.
The activist argument focuses only on water expansion and ice melting due to rising temperatures but never mentions the offsetting increase in evaporation and transpiration - warmer air holds more water. In fact, these two events are contributing to lower water levels in the Great Lakes.
The best estimate of ending global warming is at least 100 years away if all contributing activity were halted at once. Bearing in mind that the first gasoline powered automobile was built 118 years ago before my grandfather was born, a great many inevitable changes will occur within the next 100 years, including the likely development of pollution-free vehicles and the deaths of my yet-to-be-born great-grandchildren.
Every day, we're being preached to about how we should change our lifestyles to reduce the global warming threat by people who fly around in private jets, drive SUVs and use excessive amounts of electricity. Talk about hypocrisy.
Their feel-good purchase of carbon offsets is nothing more than asking someone else to do for them what they are unwilling to do themselves.
If they expect to taken seriously, then they'd better show their resolve with action behind the words. ~ Duane E. Hanson, Appleton (09/24/07)EXCELLENT!
From Papal Indulgences to Carbon Credits: Is Global Warming a Sin? - By 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 10th century as the Christian millennium approached. Then, as now, the doomsters identified human sinfulness as the propulsive factor in the planet's rapid downward slide.
Then as now, a buoyant market throve on fear. The Roman Catholic Church was a bank whose capital was secured by the infinite mercy of Christ, Mary, and the Saints, and so the Pope could sell indulgences, like checks. The sinners established a line of credit against bad behavior and could go on sinning. Today a world market in "carbon credits" is in formation. Those whose "carbon footprint" is small can sell their surplus carbon credits to others, less virtuous than themselves.
The modern trade is as fantastical as the medieval one. There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of CO2 is making any measurable contribution to the world's present warming trend. The greenhouse fearmongers rely entirely on unverified, crudely oversimplified computer models to finger mankind's sinful contribution. Devoid of any sustaining scientific basis, carbon trafficking is powered by guilt, credulity, cynicism, and greed, just like the old indulgences, though at least the latter produced beautiful monuments. By the 16th century, long after the world had sailed safely through the end of the first millennium, Pope Leo X financed the reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica by offering a "plenary" indulgence, guaranteed to release a soul from purgatory...more (09/24/07)Greening for God's creation sake - Catholic community finds new ways of meeting ecological responsibilities - By Mary Jo Dangel, St. Anthony Messenger (www.americancatholic.org) - CINCINNATI, Ohio (St. Anthony Messenger) - Long before the environmental movement began and global warming became a hot topic, God told us in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis that caring for creation is our moral responsibility. But evidence is mounting that we haven't been doing a very good job, and the results are catching up with us.
Thus, people of faith, including Catholics, are going green because of their religious convictions. Some of them are finding out that saving the earth saves them money, too... I think it's interesting to note that warmists often liken "denialists" to creationists. How ironic that the warmists are prepared to take it on faith that the invisible CO2 Boogeyman in the Sky is warming the Earth, not the all mighty Creator. There's no longer any denying that Global Warming is a religion in itself. (09/24/07)Global warming: the cold facts - IAN JOHNSTON - IT IS a vast, largely unexplored wilderness, a place of extraordinary stillness that can erupt into storms of unbearable fury. To date, the wrath of Antarctica has only been felt by explorers and scientists.
But, with global warming, this frozen continent could unleash a flood of biblical proportions. Vast ice sheets a mile thick contain 70 per cent of the planet's fresh water. Sea levels would rise by 200ft if this melted and the UK would turn into a series of small islands. But...
The good news is scientists believe the warming climate will actually thicken the ice sheets because it will increase snowfall, particularly in the eastern Antarctic, and should compensate for the loss of ice, mostly from the west. (09/24/07)More anti-capitalism hyperbole from the kooks at Environment California...
Report Charts 'Cleaner, Cheaper, Smarter' Path on Global Warming Policy - Easier Transition to Clean Energy Economy When Polluters Pay - By: Environment California - Capping emissions and making polluters pay for putting global warming emissions into the atmosphere is the most economically efficient and fair approach to cutting global warming pollution nationwide, according to a new report released today by Environment California. (09/24/07)Biofuels Produce More Greenhouse Gases Than Oil and Gasoline - By Noel Sheppard - Here's an inconvenient truth our global warming obsessed media seem certain to withhold from the public: biofuels produce more greenhouse gases than oil and gasoline.
Fortunately, as has been noted by NewsBusters before, foreign press outlets are more willing than ours to present the facets of this issue that go counter to the prevailing climate change agenda...continued (09/23/07)More reviews: Children's Books.
WORD PLAY For Earth's sake - By Sonja Bolle, Special to The Times - Environmental awareness, you may have noticed, is no longer just the province of tree-huggers. With fundamentalist Christian pastors preaching stewardship of the Earth and half the businesses you walk into announcing the steps they've taken to conserve resources, environmentalism has now become an American value.
Chances are, there's a movement brewing at your child's school to make the place more environmentally responsible. From no-trash lunches to reducing paper waste to retooling playground surfaces, schools are taking a look at their habits and involving children in these deliberations.
This year has seen the publication of several children's books devoted specifically to the issue of global warming. "An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming" (Viking/Rodale: $16, paper, ages 11 and up), an adaptation of Al Gore's book for adults, and "The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming" (Scholastic: $15.99, paper, ages 9-12), a book by environmental activists Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, cover much the same territory for slightly different age groups. They aim to educate (indoctrinate) kids about rising temperatures, how human activity is affecting the Earth's climate and humanity's responsibility to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
When you are selecting a book on this topic for your children, look at the first pages. The tone of each book is easy to discern in the first paragraphs.
Gore's tone is dignified and elegant -- some might say earnest -Dignified and elegant? Earnest? Please! It's full of lies, mistruths, exagerations and hyperbole.- and shows all the signs of having been polished over many revisions. Polished? You mean revised as in edited over and over again as more lies, exagerations and ridiculous assertions are exposed and deleted. Many still exist. And indeed it has: This is the second print version of the presentation Gore has been touring for years, although Jane O'Connor's text adaptation alleviates his tendency to sound like a policy wonk. The illustrations are beautiful, even when they're documenting grim realities; the attention to visuals shows the book's origins as a slide presentation. Gore's memory of his mother reading her children Rachel Carson's classic, "Silent Spring," which argued, in Gore's words, that mankind "now had the power to seriously harm the environment," gives a sense of history to the environmental movement.
David and Gordon, writing for a somewhat younger audience, take a jokier approach, using cartoons, throwing in silly remarks (cows and methane gas are a natural here) and breaking up the text into easy-to-read blocks. But the essentials and intentions are the same as in Gore's book: to raise awareness and persuade children to consider the environment in the choices they make in daily life. From the macro (the oceans as carbon "sponges") to the micro ("pancakes get drier" as maple trees produce less sap during shorter winters), the authors demonstrate the interconnectedness of the planet's systems and bring their arguments home for schoolchildren.
Presenting itself as an antidote to the alarmist views of environmentalists is "The Sky's Not Falling!: Why It's OK to Chill About Global Warming" (World Ahead Publishing: $17.95, paper, ages 9-12), by Holly Fretwell, a natural resources policy expert and self-described optimist. HIGHLY RECOMENDED! This book should be required reading for every child as it's founded in scientific facts, not environmental alarmism! Her opening pages cast scientists who profess concern about global warming as the hysterical lead in "Chicken Little" (hence the title). Although the book asks children to remain open-minded and not be swayed by "garbage in, garbage out" scientific analyses, the main concern here is clearly not science. It's unclear what would constitute sufficient scientific proof of human influence on climate
