By Robert Bobucky, Pocono Record
While applauding skepticism in general but seeking scientific opinion on global warming, a recent letter to the editor declares skepticism and exception when the stakes are high. Supposedly, man is the culprit for global warming, the risks are profound and man only can save us from a catastrophe. Consider the following: approximately 400 scientist from 23 different countries have offered their names in opposition of man made global warming.
The climate of the earth is so complex to prohibit humans to craft computer models that can factor in all variables. Dr. Roy Spencer, an acclaimed research scientist, states that carbon dioxide is a relatively small part of the earth’s natural greenhouse effect. A certain amount of sunlight is absorbed at the surface of the earth, weather processes happen which create the greenhouse effect. Most of the greenhouse effect is from evaporated water that turns into clouds and of course water vapor, a strong greenhouse gas.
Follow the money. Grants and donations are a large factor in scientists supporting global warming.Dr. Spencer believes man-made global warming is not a science because scientific truth is not determined by a vote. Yet, because of consensus, persuasive apocalyptic descriptions of global warming persist strongly aided by the media which thrive on bad news. It is apparent that skeptics have scientific truth on their side. Read more here.
Error Theory Blogspot
Every climate scientist in the world has known beyond any doubt, for at least several years now, that late 20th century warming was driven almost entirely by the very high levels of solar activity between 1940 and 2000 (details follow). They also know the corollary: that when solar activity drops into a down phase, the earth will get cold, possibly even precipitating the next ice age (due any century now). Not only is this the real and impending threat, but solar activity has been low for several years now, and sharp global cooling is already being detected. At the same time, the current lull between 11 year solar cycles is unusually quiet and long, reminiscent of earlier downturns in solar activity that led to dramatic global cooling. It seems certain at this point that we are in for at least a substantial dip in global temperature. In addition to the weak sun and the already falling temperatures, this winter’s record snow cover is reflecting an unusual amount of solar radiation back into space, and we are also in the middle of a major La Nina event (where cold pacific waters rise to the surface).
If global cooling is known to be the real and impending danger, why is it that even with the onset of cooling, most climatologists are raising hysterical alarms about global warming? Because they are not actually concerned about global temperature at all. They are environmental religionists who believe that human economic growth is gobbling up the natural world. Blaming late 20th century warming on fossil fuel burning was just an opportunity for these religionists to try to impose restrictions on economic activity, and in that way “save the planet” from human encroachment. Global warming alarmism never did have anything to do with climatology. If only the sun had stayed aboil for one more solar cycle, the religionists would have succeeded. When the inevitable cooling did come, it would still pull the curtain off of their global warming hoax, but by then it would be too late. Economic restrictions would already be fixed in place, under UN bodies that the religionists control.
Read this opinion by Alec Rawls, Stanford Economist and on the board for the Stanford Review here.
By Christopher Booker, Daily Mail
Yesterday’s picture in the Mail of a cascade of icicles in the Yorkshire Dales was a reminder of how cold Britain can be - something many of us have forgotten in this unusually mild winter. But it really is remarkable how little attention has been paid to the extraordinary weather events which in recent weeks have been affecting other parts of the world. Across much of the northern hemisphere, from Greece and Iran to China and Japan, they have been suffering their worst snowfalls for decades. In country after country, these abnormal snowfalls have provoked a crisis.
In China - the only example to have attracted major coverage in Britain - the worst snow for 50 years triggered an unprecedented state of emergency. Large parts of the country have been paralysed, as rail and road transport ground to a standstill. More than 25,000 miles of power lines collapsed under a weight of snow and ice they were never designed to cope with. Snow has devastated thousands of square miles of farmland, threatening severe food shortages. The total cost of the disaster to the Chinese economy may be more than 10 billion pounds.
In Afghanistan, freezing weather and the worst snow for 30 years have killed more than 900 people. In neighbouring Tajikistan, according to aid agencies, the coldest winter for 50 years, along with soaring food prices and a massive energy crisis, threatens a “humanitarian catastrophe”. Across much of the northern hemisphere, from Greece and Iran to China and Japan, they have been suffering their worst snowfalls for decades. In Greece and Turkey, where temperatures dropped as low as minus 31 degrees Celsius, hundreds of villages have been cut off by blizzards and drifting snow. In Iran, following heavy snowfalls last month, its eastern desert regions - normally still hot at this time of year - have seen their first snow in living memory. In Saudi Arabia last month, people were amazed by the first snow most had ever seen. On the Pacific coast of Japan last week, heavy falls of snow injured more than 50. Meanwhile in the U.S., similarly abnormal snowfalls have hit more than a dozen states. In light of such similar news from so many places round the world, it may not seem surprising that U.S. satellite data for January shows the extent of snow cover in the northern hemisphere as reaching its highest level since 1966, 42 years ago - and that temperatures were lower than their average for the whole of the 20th century.
We may, they suggest, be seeing the start of a period when temperatures reverse their generally upward trend over the past 30 years, as we did in those decades before 1978 known to climate scientists as “the Little Cooling”. The truth is that it is still much too early to draw any long-term conclusions from 2008’s great freeze. But it is one of the most startling developments to have emerged in the world’s weather patterns for a long time - not least in that it was so unexpected. At least it raises important questions over how our global climate is evolving which the scientists will have to try to explain. To the millions of people whose lives have been seriously disrupted by this year’s freeze, the concept of global warming must seem awfully remote. Read more here.
By the Marshall Institute
The debate over the state of climate science and what it tells us about past and future climate has been going on for twenty years. It is not close to resolution, in spite of assertions to the contrary. What is often referred to as a “consensus” is anything but. In many cases, this consensus represents the “expert judgment” of a handful of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) authors, which other researchers can and do disagree with. For many, especially those engaged in advocacy, the claim of consensus is a device used to advance their agenda. Although humanity has been interested in climate since prehistoric times, climate science is, in fact, a relatively new field. It is only since the 1970s, when models were developed to connect atmospheric and oceanic climate processes, that scientists have had the tools to study climate as a system. Also, it is only since the 1970s that satellites have been available to provide global climate data. While the 1970s may seem like a long time ago, it is too short a period to provide a comprehensive understanding of the climate system, which includes processes, such as the 60-80 year North Atlantic Oscillation, that occur over many decades. It can also take many years to detect and correct errors in the climate data base, such as the recently announced correction of NASA’s surface temperature data for the U.S., and previous announcements of corrections to global satellite temperature data.
Concerns about either the potential impacts of climate change or the economic impact of ill-conceived policies result in some scientists entering the policy debate. Others, unfortunately, have entered the debate to advance political or economic agendas, gain funding for research, or enhance their personal reputations. To the extent that the debate is carried out in the public policy arena or media, the rigors of the scientific process are short-circuited. This state of affairs creates misunderstandings and confusion over what we know about the climate system, past climate changes and their causes, human impacts on the climate system and how human activities may affect future climate. Policy needs are better served by clarity and accuracy. The purpose of this document is to address a set of fundamental questions about climate change by summarizing the best available scientific information. The information provided is not intended to rebut claims about human impacts on climate or the potential for adverse impacts later this century. It is intended to separate fact from speculation and to demonstrate that, while concerns are legitimate, there is not a robust scientific basis for drawing definitive and objective conclusions about the extent of human influence on future climate. Read full report here and in the Icecap Climate Library.
By Tony Bonnici, UK Daily Express
NEW evidence has cast doubt on claims that the world’s ice-caps are melting, it emerged last night. Satellite data shows that concerns over the levels of sea ice may have been premature. It was feared that the polar caps were vanishing because of the effects of global warming. But figures from the respected US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that almost all the “lost” ice has come back. Ice levels which had shrunk from 13 million sq km in January 2007 to just four million in October, are almost back to their original levels. Figures show that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than is usual for the time of year. The data flies in the face of many current thinkers and will be seized on by climate change sceptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming.
They add that snow cover across the area is at its greatest since 1966. The one exception is Western Europe, which has - until the weekend when temperatures plunged to as low as -10C in some places - been basking in unseasonably warm weather. The UK has reported one of its warmest winters on record. However, vast swathes of the world have suffered chaos because of some of the heaviest snowfalls in decades. Central and southern China, the USA and Canada were hit hard by snowstorms. Even the Middle East saw snow, with Jerusalem, Damascus, Amman and northern Saudi Arabia reporting the heaviest falls in years and below-zero temperatures. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan snow and freezing weather killed 120 people. In Britain the barmy February weather came to an abrupt halt at the weekend as temperatures plunged to -10C in central England. Experts believe that this month could end up as one of the coldest Februaries in Britain in the past 10 years. Read more here.
Athens News Agency
A raging snow storm that blanketed most of Greece over the weekend also continued into the early morning hours on Monday, plunging the country into sub-zero temperatures. Public transport buses were at a standstill on Monday in the wider Athens area, while ships remained in ports, public services remained closed, and schools and courthouses in the more severely-stricken prefectures were also closed. Scores of villages, mainly on the island of Crete, and in the prefectures of Evia, Argolida, Arcadia, Lakonia, Viotia, and the Cyclades islands were snowed in.
In Athens, up to 10 to 15 cm was reported (4-6 inches). Attica, Evia, the Cyclades islands and Crete were the most hard hit by the continuing snow storm on Monday, while snow chains were required throughout most of the National Highway network and in most parts of Attica prefecture. Problems were also caused by a blanket of ice that has formed from partially-melted snow beneath the new snowfall.
Icecap Note: Southeasternmost Europe and the Middle East across southern Asia have been hardest hit this winter with the Siberian air directed south and southwest instead of west or east. Northwest and western Europe escaped the worst of the cold much like the eastern United States at least until this month when cold set in. Most meteorologists will tell you there is a high correlation between the anomalies felt in western europe and the eastern United States as they are about a wavelength apart in the normal jet stream wave pattern.
New York Times
The New York Times Warns Fluorescent Bulb ‘Dangers are Real and Growing’. Across the world, consumers are being urged to stop buying outdated incandescent light bulbs and switch to new spiral fluorescent bulbs, which use about 25 percent of the energy and last 10 times longer. In Britain, there is a Ban the Bulb movement. China is encouraging the change. And the United States Congress has set new energy efficiency standards that will make Edison’s magical invention obsolete by the year 2014.
Now, the question is how to dispose of these compact fluorescent bulbs once they break or quit working. Unlike traditional light bulbs, each of these spiral bulbs has a tiny bit of a dangerous toxin - around five milligrams of mercury. And although one dot of mercury might not seem so bad, almost 300 million compact fluorescents were sold in the United States last year. That is already a lot of mercury to throw in the trash, and the amounts will grow ever larger in coming years. Businesses and government recyclers need to start working on more efficient ways to deal with that added mercury. Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is raising the cry about the moment when millions of these light bulbs start landing in landfills or incinerators all at once. The pig in the waste pipeline, she calls it.
For all that good, the dangers are real and growing. It is time to find more efficient ways of recycling these fluorescents or, better yet, to invent light bulbs that don’t leave a toxic hangover. Read more here.
Tom Nelson Blogspot
1. Uber-alarmist James Hansen is head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.2. Hansen is said to be the boss of RealClimate alarmist Gavin Schmidt at NASA GISS.3. Gristmill alarmist Andrew Dessler says he did his post-doctoral work at NASA Goddard. 4. RealClimate alarmist Eli Rabbet is said to be Josh Halpern: Prof. Halpern is also the Co-Director of the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD in odd numbered years. This program supports about 30 faculty each year to do summer research at Goddard. When this worldwide global warming hysteria inevitably dies, it will probably become clear that a core cause was groupthink among a surprisingly small set of people. Comment by Peter Risdon: Hansen’s work was also at the heart of the global cooling scares of the 1970s.