Have You Noticed the Weather is Getting Worse, Part II

This time, Reuters has a piece on why scientists are dumbfounded as to why there's a lull in global warming:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE61N0TR.htm
Omahan's Avatar
After discussing this with fritz I am reopening the thread. Please stay on topic.
Thanks for re-opening the thread. Please, if the topic is the weather (or, by extension, the climate/environment), then let's stay on topic, please.

Now, for today's tidbit from overseas - scientists are saying that January - this January - is the warmest January ever. Of course, that may be because half the world is experiencing summer (in the Southern Hemisphere).

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/160556
BiggestBest's Avatar
All I know is February has already had a record 14 days of snow/ice in KC and the month is not over yet.

One day there was snow in 49 states (not Hawaii).

Send some global warming to KC please...
john_galt's Avatar
The earthquake in Chili reminds me of the research that I completed a few years ago from primary sources. Every so often (hundreds or thousands of years) the planet undergoes climate change. Sometimes increased volcanic activity and earthquakes are a warning of things to come. We have been in such a cycle for the last 50 to 100 years. I can't prove a correlation because records don't go back far enough Now the global warming crowd would like us all to sign on to climate change theories now knowing full well that climate change is a constant. They hope that we forget that they were trying to panic us into thinking man was responsible for climate change though they can't explain all the other periods of global warming in the history of the planet. They tried to shift the focus by saying that climate change happened far more quickly this time than ever before though there is no supporting evidence. The evidence runs to the contrary; green plants in full bloom found in thousand year old ice, green plants found in the stomach of mammoths overcome by the cold, mining sites with their tools still in place found in the Alps as the ice has receded this time. These all indicate a rapid climate change without the influence of mankind. The United States is still having a bout of cold weather but it doesn't end there. If you bother to read the paper and read with an open mind you will remember that this winter China, Korea, Russia, and Europe all experienced record breaking cold and snow.
To conclude; climate change is real and always has been real. There is no empirical evidence that climate change is caused by man.
Remember the 'Ice Man' found in the Alps in 1991. A 6,000 year old body was discoverd in the thawing ice. Definite proof that the world was warming. I mean really, how could you argue that the earth wasn't warming, if this body that hadn't been exposed to air in 6,000 years was suddenly exposed.

Of course, one wonders then, wasn't is just as warm as it is now 6,000 years ago?
Ever wonder why Greenland is called 'Greenland'? Really, 80% of this island is covered in glacier. Of course, I am reminded daily on the news that this number is being reduced, and its my fault. In fact, if I don't capitulate to cap and trade, Greenland will fall back to a state of lush green fields, crops of barley, and roaming livestock...um, like it was 700-1300 years ago.
If you go to Washburn University in Topeka, the north side has a wall made up of red granite. This is commonly found in Minnesota. How did it get here? Its not much of a mystery. A glacier carried the stones to this area. Topeka has some very interesting geology (which can be a problem when we try to build stuff). Some areas have very little topsoil. Having been carved to bare stone and deeper by glaciers, only a foot or two of topsoil has managed to form since that age. Other areas are mine fields of these pink boulders, which have been deposited by the glacier. You see, the area just south of Topeka is southern limit of how far this most recent glacier stretched, and when it melted and retreated, it left us with these pink boulders from Minnesota.

Interesting stuff. In the back of my mind, I can't help but wonder what caused these glaciers to form, and what melted them? Man wasn't around.
Algore responds:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28gore.html

It would be funny if he wasn't so serious.
The atmosphere has 5,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of 'air'.

Currently, we release 32,000,000,000 tons of CO2 per year.

This represents 0.00000064 percent of the atmosphere.

If all manmade CO2 (with the exception of breathing) were stopped, we would release 16,000,000,000 tons of CO2.

We would be reduced to contributing 0.00000032 percent to the total volume of the atmosphere.

That's right, if we stopped burning fuel completely, and lived in mud huts, that would be the reduction....so color me a little skeptical when somebody wants to inspect my house for insulation, before I sell it.
john_galt's Avatar
True enough Lacrew but people have to remember their biology 101. Plants use water, sunlight, and CO2 to produce cellulose for growth. No airborne CO2, no plant growth. I have heard (read)more than one politician announce the goal of zero CO2 growth. Anyone who advocates zero growth is unfit to hold any high office or a responsible position.
Um...zero CO2 growth equals population control....
Now, a counter-opinion to Algore's from the UK Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/7...-the-IPCC.html
True enough Lacrew but people have to remember their biology 101. Plants use water, sunlight, and CO2 to produce cellulose for growth. No airborne CO2, no plant growth. I have heard (read)more than one politician announce the goal of zero CO2 growth. Anyone who advocates zero growth is unfit to hold any high office or a responsible position. Originally Posted by john_galt
No plant growth means no airborne O2, meaning no animal growth (simple 5th grade science - meaning the people who advocate this are NOT smarter than a 5th grader).
BiggestBest's Avatar