Showboat
Assault on Reason
“Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, politicians gotta lie ’til the day they die…”
-music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein and Mark Jabo
An article in the Chicago Sun-Times this past weekend points out a number of scientific studies that contradict much of what a certain former next President would have us believe are some of the “commonly accepted” effects of global warming:
Here’s a brief synopsis of the global warming “facts” and some of the alternative science that contradicts them:
“Fact:” Himalayan glaciers are receding due to global warming
… the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate reported, “Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame.”
“Fact:” The snowcap of Mt. Kilamanjaro is shrinking due to global warming
… according to the November 23, 2003, issue of Nature magazine, “Although it’s tempting to blame the ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain’s foothills is the more likely culprit. Without the forests’ humidity, previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine.”
Note: In a recent article in the July-August edition of American Scientist researchers came to the same conclusion and specifically eliminated global warming as a culprit in the melting of the Kilamanjaro snow cap.
“Fact:” Global warming is causing more tornadoes
… the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in February that there has been no scientific link established between global warming and tornadoes.
“Fact:” Global warming is causing more frequent and more severe hurricanes
… hurricane expert Chris Landsea published a study on May 1 documenting that hurricane activity is no higher now than in decades past. Hurricane expert William Gray reported just a few days earlier, on April 27, that the number of major hurricanes making landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast has declined in the past 40 years. Hurricane scientists reported in the April 18 Geophysical Research Letters that global warming enhances wind shear, which will prevent a significant increase in future hurricane activity.
“Fact:” Global warming is causing African deserts to expand, threatening to exacerbate drought and famine across the continent
.. the Sept. 16, 2002, issue of New Scientist reports, “Africa’s deserts are in ’spectacular’ retreat . . . making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa.”
“Fact:” The Greenland ice sheet is melting and threatens to raise world sea levels by 20 feet or more
… according to a 2005 study in the Journal of Glaciology, “the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland, with a small overall mass gain.” In late 2006, researchers at the Danish Meteorological Institute reported that the past two decades were the coldest for Greenland since the 1910s.
“Fact:” Much of Antarctica is melting and (all together now) threatens to raise world sea levels by 20 feet or more
… the Jan. 14, 2002, issue of Nature magazine reported Antarctica as a whole has been dramatically cooling for decades. More recently, scientists reported in the September 2006 issue of the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series A: Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, that satellite measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet showed significant growth between 1992 and 2003. And the U.N. Climate Change panel reported in February 2007 that Antarctica is unlikely to lose any ice mass during the remainder of the century.
As the article notes, in his new book, The Assault on Reason, Gore demands that “We must stop tolerating the rejection and distortion of science.”
Can’t help lovin’ the audacity of that man of mine …
Take us home, Lena
global warming, climate change, fact, fiction, Assault on Reason, Al Gore, Lena Horne, Showboat, global warming myths, Nature, hurricanes, glaciers, tornadoes, oh my,
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Ok, let stop talking about the effects of Global Warming. The rise in temperature can be due to the fact that we are emitting more carbon emission or due to the fact that the earth is constantly changing. Even if we put aside this argument. we can not ignore the fact that right now.. we are causing harm to the world we live in.
Trash bags and plastic bags end up in the ocean where it chokes marine life and kills them. We keep on putting more chemicals and harmful pesticide into the land which leeks into our water system so more chemicals are needed to clean the water and those who are not fortunate.. will die from poisoning. There are photographs that can attest to this. The amount of trash that is being thrown out on a day to day basis, there will not be enough land to cover up our trash in the future. You don’t have to have scientists or politicians to tell you that. Do the math.
The issue shouldn’t be is it happening or isn’t it.. the issue should be.. what can I do to minimize the negative impact that we have on the world on a day to day basis. Period.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:13 am
Susie,
I’m going to suggest that the issue should be: how do we create the conditions that are necessary for humans to flourish? Period.
Are you really suggesting that we eliminate plastic bags and pesticides? The result would be to drastically reduce our current agricultural output and assure the starvation of millions of people.
The Malthusian projections of trash overtaking the world have been around since the days of the Pharaohs. The math is the same simplistic geometric progression that suggests we can all become millionaires by recruiting two friends to sell Amway. The projections consistently fail to account for human progress and advancing technology that allow us to deal with trash as well as a myriad of other problems.
Everything we do impacts the world on a day to day basis. The best way for me to minimize that impact is to kill myself. I’m unwilling to do that.
None of this is to say that we should waste resources or gratuitously dump hazardous waste into the sandbox at our local playground.
I believe that everyone should be allowed the freedom to make their own choices and I applaud your efforts to offer alternatives to the way we currently do things. I’ve even adopted some of the suggestions you make on your website.
But it really is time to change the attitude that humans are somehow, by their mere existence, befouling nature.
We can, and should, continue to maximize conditions that foster human survival.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Hello Mark, Sorry about the tangent I was on.. I had the cold and I think the Nyquil I was taking affected my brain function. I really appreciate the realistic attitude you take on your blog and your even sometimes dubious stand point is a good one. Believe me, I am not one of those hippy types that thinks you have to off yourself in order for the Earth to survive. I just have been seeing that a lot of people do not believe that living an excessive lifestyle is not doing ANY damage to the environment. I am saying do things in moderation. I am not perfect and no I do not believe you should ban plastic bags but reuse them or buy cloth bags to offset that.. I am saying do couple of things.. that’s all I am saying. I appreciate your blog and sorry about outburst…
July 4th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Oh and on the pesticide issue. It’s also beneficial to have natural pesticide.. Organic farming supports about 10 different pesticide (ok. I am getting the number off my head but it’s around about that) instead of 233 chemicals that’s used regularly. That’s excessive and not only bad for the environment but also for our own bodies. So I am saying that yes, use pesticide but not so much of it…
July 4th, 2007 at 1:40 am
Hello Lovely, you have been nominated for Blogger for Positive Global Change Award. I hope you will participate
You totally deserve it. Love reading your blog and thanks for my dose of reality. Cheers! Just click on my name to claim your nomination
July 5th, 2007 at 7:53 am
Susie,
One of the really cool things I’ve learned while blogging about global warming is that smart, nice and reasonable people can disagree on the topic and still find some common ground.
And, sometimes, even when they can’t agree on a whole lot, they can still earn each other’s respect and continue to learn from the dialogue.
Thanks for the nomination, thanks for presenting your views and thanks for the passion that you bring to the discussion.
July 8th, 2007 at 3:18 am
I think you are rubbing off on me.
I just did a piece.. is going green becoming too trendy… I see the light! lol.. thanks lovely. I enjoy reading your blog too!
June 27th, 2009 at 1:07 am
Good post ,, Will come back again soon