'World News Tonight' Kicks off Global Warming Series After Report on Record Cold Snap

Photo of Noel Sheppard.

This is really hysterical, and requires all sharp objects, food and drinking vessels to be properly stowed before proceeding.

On Saturday evening, ABC’s “World News Tonight” kicked off its new series “Going Green” with “fresh ideas for coping with the warming planet.”

Quite comically, this was just minutes after anchor David Muir led the program with a report captioned "Arctic Easter" detailing the “brutally cold temperatures across much of the Eastern half of the country…where there could be record lows overnight” (video available here).

Despite this historic cold snap, Muir -- with a straight face, no less! -- astoundingly began a seemingly contradictory segment just minutes later (video available here):

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Tonight we kick off our new series "Going Green" -- fresh ideas for coping with the warming planet. Just yesterday, a panel of scientists released the most detailed report yet of what is to come. They say droughts and floods are inevitable and they say worse will follow if greenhouse gases are not reduced. The good news, some of this country's best brains are now working on the problem. ABC’s Brian Rooney is in Silicon Valley where high-tech wizards are "going green."

Timing is everything, isn’t it? After all, "fresh ideas for coping with the warming planet" seems a little absurd as folks are digging out their driveways during Passover and Easter.

Now, in fairness, there was nothing wrong with the alternative energy ideas presented by Rooney. I myself installed solar panels some years ago to heat my pool, and am a strong advocate for all Americans to do much more in this regard.

However, there is truly a delicious irony concerning the timing of: the release of the IPCC report; a major television network beginning a series on coping with global warming, and; record-breaking cold temperatures over most of the country.

Unfortunately, some NewsBusters members seemed to miss this marvelous dichotomy yesterday in the comments section of an article on this subject.

To be sure, extreme cold events like what we are experiencing do not disprove the existence of global warming, and nobody here is making that point. Instead, what is being addressed is the delicious irony of such occurring as the nation and the world is being warned of imminent doom at the hand of anthropogenic global warming.

Moreover, there is a distinct and disparate difference in how the recent cold snap is being reported as compared to the above-normal temperatures the same region experienced in early January.

At that time, the mainstream news outlets used those warm temperatures to support the premise of anthropogenic global warming as reported by NewsBusters here, here, and here. However, when extreme cold is experienced in virtually the same areas only three months later breaking records going back to the 1800s, there is absolutely no discussion about how this might impact climate change thinking.

Let’s understand that this cold snap that we are experiencing is every bit as extreme – maybe even more so – than the warm patch we had in January. Here are some examples in the South as reported by AccuWeather:

Some cities that have already broken records this morning include:

  • Atlanta, Ga. - old record of 32 in 1886
  • Charlotte, N.C. - old record of 30 in 1961
  • Augusta, Ga. - old record of 32 in 1971
  • Savannah, Ga. - old record of 35 in 1950
  • Jacksonville, Fla. - old record of 37 in 1971
  • Nashville, Tenn. - old record of 27 in 1990
  • Little Rock, Ark. - old record of 32 in 1971

Many locations also set record-low temperatures Saturday morning as well. Some of these cities and the new record-low temperatures include:

  • Shreveport, La. - 50
  • Abbeville, S.C. - 38
  • Monroe, La. - 51
  • Savannah, Ga. - 56
  • Charlotte, N.C. - 25
  • Decatur, Ala. - 27
  • Gadsden, Ala. - 28
  • Montgomery, Ala. - 36
  • Atlanta, Ga. - 28
  • Greenville, S.C. - 28
  • Columbus, Miss. - 27
  • Greenville, Miss. - 32
  • Memphis, Tenn. - 30
  • Jackson, Tenn. - 25
  • Knoxville, Tenn. - 26
  • Huntsville, Ala. -25

Now, once again, these lows are not evidence that global warming isn’t occurring. However, neither are the extreme highs that happen from time to time evidence that it is. And, an unbiased media would do a better job of making this clear rather than jumping on every hot spell to advance their agenda while pretending that the cold spells are irrelevant.

What follows is a full transcript of ABC’s “Going Green” report.

DAVID MUIR, ANCHOR ABC’S “WORLD NEWS SATURDAY”: Tonight we kick off our new series "Going Green" fresh ideas for coping with the warming planet. Just yesterday, a panel of scientists released the most detailed report yet of what is to come. They say droughts and floods are inevitable and they say worse will follow if greenhouse gases are not reduced. The good news, some of this country's best brains are now working on the problem. ABC’s Brian Rooney is in Silicon Valley where high-tech wizards are "going green."

BRIAN ROONEY, ABC CORRESPONDENT: These trucks from a company called Solar City are on their way to deliver the promise of affordable solar electricity for home owners.

UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL: Looking at the world's biggest problems, software is not going to address it.

ROONEY: He used to be in the software business. But his new company is trying to flood California neighborhoods with solar power. Still smarting from the Internet bubble burst, some of the technical brain trust of Silicon Valley is turning to what may be the next big thing, alternative energy and solar power. An example, this new factory is rolling out what the company hopes will be mass-produced and affordable solar panels millions of Americans can install on their roof.

UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL: Well, I'm somewhat of a serial entrepreneur. This is my sixth venture-backed company. And this is the most exciting market opportunity I've ever been in.

ROONEY: Investors are beginning to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into companies like these, hoping to catch the next wave at a time when cost, technology and the need for new energy are all coming together.

UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL: It's a moment in time when the next great possibility is launched.

ROONEY: They're also working on fuel cells, more dependable electric cars and biomass, fuel made of plants like algae. But solar power is most promising right now. Silicon Valley has re-invented itself with every wave of technology, from the computer chip to the Internet. And now, on the brink of an energy revolution, one analyst says Silicon Valley could become solar valley.

Silicon Valley companies were involved in building this 11 megawatt solar electricity plant in Portugal, not huge, but proof that solar power is not off in some Buck Rogers' future.

UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL: Today is kind of our 1983 for the chip industry, if you will.

ROONEY: You're on the cusp of becoming every day household technology.

UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL: Yes, absolutely.

ROONEY: Hard to believe, but keep in mind, these are the people who changed the world before. Brian Rooney, ABC News, San Jose, California.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


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talking from both sides of their mouths

"Just yesterday, a panel of scientists released the most detailed report yet of what is to come. They say droughts and floods are inevitable..."   -David Muir

Oh yeah?  An economist from that same IPCC panel, who endorses a Carbon Tax, says: 

"You're right!  We don't know exactly how much warming the planet will experience over the next century.  We are not precicely sure how local climates will change....We cannot guarantee that our fears about potentially dangerous climate change are justified, but you cannot be sure that they are not." 

.

"Did we think Kyoto would [reduce global warming] when we signed it? . . . Hell no!" -Al Gore

I think they are just tryin

I think they are just trying to cover all the bases. No matter what happens, global warming is the cause. The synpopsis of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" says "Global warming triggers a new ice age." How's that for a contradiction? So they instead go with "climate change." That way if anything unusual happens, you blame it on "climate change." Well, file under D for "DUH!"

Didn't see "The Day Af

Didn't see "The Day After Tomorrow" but I thought the best part of the TV trailers was where the ocean washes over NYC and freezes solid in place, in a matter of (presumably) minutes or seconds. A zero-degree freezer takes a couple of hours to freeze 1/2 liter of room temperature water into ice cubes. No weather phenomenon on this earth could freeze thousands of cubic meters of water in any short amount of time. And yet, apparently, there are people out in the "real world" who imagine that it not only could happen but is inevitable!

Lee T.

U.S. Navy (ret.) / Hillsboro, Oregon

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life. Unless I buy something.

waddaya mean da best part wa

waddaya mean da best part was when "the ocean washes over New Yawk City and freezes solid . . . "?

I'm more curious how the te

I'm more curious how the temperatures were able to flash freeze SALT water. Apparently global warming's most terrifying power is the ability to defy physics.

If the climate is warming, yo

If the climate is warming, you are to eat tree bark and live nude in a cave.

If the climate is cooling, you are to eat tree bark and live nude in a cave.

If the climate is not changing at all, you are to eat tree bark and live nude in a cave.

Rochester, Minnesota: A Fem_Leftist City!

Alger-- I misread your post---

Alger-- I misread your post---

"you are to eat tree bark and live nude in a cave."

I thought you said I was to bark at trees and watch live nudes in caves.

Oh, well!

Where ’s the coward that would not dare to fight for such a land?

Sir Walter Scott

Living nude in a cave........

Living nude in a cave.........I can live with that.  Eat tree bark....?  Can I have some "Famous Dave's" BBQ sauce with that bark?  And I'll need to wash that down with an ice cold Bud Light.  My husband concurs. 

A serial entrepeneur? His six

A serial entrepeneur? His sixth company? Got caught up in the dot com bubble? May I ask what happened to the other 5 companies? Sadly. This does sound like a AGW expert!

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”   H.L. Mencken

Noel,Thanks for another good

Noel,

Thanks for another good post on the idiotic coverage by the media on "global warming".

If this cooling trend continues, maybe Global Warming will cancel summer and hurricanes.  Just think, convertible season all year long....yay!

Today, my priest asked for more global warming

Yep, we were in church today doing the Easter thing, and our priest was nice enough to point out that it's snowing here in April. In fact, opening day in Cleveland was called due to snow 3 times during the game, and 3 more times after. He followed up by saying, "If this is global warming, could someone please turn it up?" There was some good laughter.

Only those filled with the utmost arrogance would report on a record cold snap, and then cry armageddon ala global warming in the next breath.

the problem is----

the problem is----if one tries to say that the evidence of GW seems to be unsupported by the current weather, instead of a logical argument, ala "one robin does not make a spring". the general response is that GW causes freezing temperatures. Then they wonder why there are so many disbelievers.

Being older and liking a warmer climate, I can hardly wait for the next "Little Ice Age" to warm me up!

That's where the Global Warmi

That's where the Global Warmists have their back-up plan.  Whether the temps rise or drop, it's all the cause of GWB's policies either way.  Therefore, they now harp on CLIMATE CHANGE as their new bogey man.  All bases covered!

I also like how the report

I also like how the report pointed out this sudden cold snap will screw over crops and farmers.

WOW, you mean that if we had the opposite of global warming (cooling) that it could endanger our food supplies, alternate fuels and screw us all over anyway? This is why I always ask people: "What's our goal with 'solving' global warming?" After all, are you sure the alternative is going to be any better?

CG

CG,

Actually, this is why many international economists actually believe that a slightly warmer planet would be a tremendous benefit to developing nations and the poor all around the world.

Sadly, the upside of warmth doesn't fit into the socialist agenda of controlling America's growing economy. And, it is clear that folks on the left feel that increasing global suffering of the poor is a good tradeoff if capitalism can be destroyed.   ns

It's ironic Noel how rarely

It's ironic Noel how rarely leftists see how the attainment of one goal might then ruin another. If warming was reversed, cooling resulted and crops were hurt by it, then how would people become vegetarians, poor farmers benefit, etc. Of course, it also seems to me that for these people, the ultimate result isn't near as important as how they feel.

Oh, and you can just call me Grim.

We have set at least one re

We have set at least one record, maybe two. Temperatures at night below freezing the last four days.

I turn on the sprinkler system last Tuesday and have yet to see if it still works.

JDW

News media: Scoreboard for terrorists

If you are going to whine about spelling... get a life

I'm curious, do you clever gu

I'm curious, do you clever guys and gals dump your old motor oil in a river and admire all the pretty colors? Or perhaps you burn a pile of trash and note how the ashes look like snow. There seems to be some great disconnect between you, science and the consequences of mankind on the world around it. We have a cold snap and you cheekily imply how foolish it is for the media to keep talking about global warming when it's so cold outside. We have a hotter-than-usual summer and you assail the media for suggesting it may have something to do with global warming. I'm sure when April showers arrive you'll ask, where's that drought they warned us about? And when wildfires burn this summer you'll say, one inferno does not a greenhouse effect make. Pray tell, how and when are we allowed to discuss global warming? Or should we not bother, because all these doomsday forecasts simply don't jibe with your expansive worldview?

By all means continue FuManShoes -

By all means continue FuManShoes - you wierd named freak liberal gasbag.

 I'll enjoy it when you eat your years of babbling. Keep it up, talk all you want about it. I love to see how stupid you people are.

 Sunshine policy is officially a go. roflmao

What can I say, Sport, you go

What can I say, Sport, you got this wierd named freak liberal gasbag good, real good. But tell me, how does one go about eating years of babbling? What do you serve that with?

Served with

Served with - heck  - eat your name you idiot.

No, better yet, whine some more that noone wants you to "discuss" gorbull warming, or ask like a moron, "how do you expect us to discuss it?", when that's all we've been hearing from you wackos ever since the Gorbal carbon spewer thrust his made for morons movie on the USA and got his elite lib hate prize from the pinheads of tv parade.

 Yeah, what the hell is the matter with you people ? You are confronted by the discussion, the half of it that you don't like, that you don't agree with, and your response, instead of engaging in the discussion, is to whine " how do you expect us to discuss is if things are said that you don't agree with... "

 All I can say is you have to be one of the stupidest morons on the face of this earth. You encountered things you didn't agree with, and failed to discuss. IT'S YOU, DUMMY. ( I know you "feel" like your idiocies aren't wanted. I understand that. If you aren't given a warm lie to coddle your inner child,{ please share your thoughts, we are dying to hear your wisdom} it's as if your mouth was ripped from your body, and you "feel" silenced. I get it, you are a lame faggy lib whining sissy fool. I quite understand. You can't stand on the power of your thoughts and knowledge, you need a bubble of protection , a permanent anal kissing that tells you anything you say that is incorrect and wrong and foolish will not be challenged but instead be taken in as shedding light upon the learning experience... )

 But then, you idiot liberals have a twisted mentally deranged mind, so you MUST have that special protection.

 The discussion is ensuing, and you encounter opinions that you don't agree with, and your repsonse is " how can we possibly discuss this ?!!? "

 It never occurs to you cop-out pussyfooting retarded retreads that the answer is, to open your stupid yap and engage, instead of whining you can't say anything, or babbling on that you somehow aren't allowed to or haven't been able, have been prevented , etc. ad mysterium

 It's the same old liberally insane BS, where some of your favorite libtards get up on stage in front of thousands of raging lib fans, and quack out the big fat lie of the half decade for you turdbrains:

 " WE ARE BEING CENSORED AND ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK UP ! AND I HAVE ONE THING TO SAY TO THAT, BUSH LIED CHILDREN DIED SEXED UP INTELLIGENCE SPYING ON AMERICAN CITIZENS NAZI WAR MONGER IDIOT CHILD DICTATOR. NOT IN OUR NAME!!!!!!"

 So you get your 120 decibel cheer, and then the very next sentence, the same idiot is crying that their freedom of speech has been taken away.

 So, when you eat your words, it will be immeasurably enjoyable. It will crush you moronic turdbrains as never before. You're all on a raging emotional binge of stupidity and hatred, and your vision is so clouded you cannot see the daylight.

It will be thrust upon you by nature itself, and your immense shame will never go away. It will finally do what George Bush and the other sane people have never been capable of doing. SHUTTING YOU UP.

 That of course won't be censorship, as I'm sure your tiny mind already started decieving you into thinking it so.

 That will be YOU - feeling so damned stupid, that you dare not open your yapper again, and as they say, remove all doubt.

 I sincerely look forward to that great event to come. 

Another no reply.What are y

Another no reply.

What are your thoughts concerning a judge citing gore's movie in a legal ruling about gore warming?

JDW

News media: Scoreboard for terrorists

If you are going to whine about spelling... get a life

Not at all

Problem: Last year, Global Warming alarmist and activist Al Gore sets himself in New York to give a speech on Global Warming and its effects caused by mankind. The problem arrives when, on the day he is scheduled to give his remarks, New York sets a new record for cold.

Problem: This year, when Global Warming alarmists are sitting up in Alaska, preparing for a trek into the Arctic north, to measure the thickness of ice at the North Pole, to prove the existance of manmade global warming, their expedition is turned back from extreme cold. Frostbite sets in amongst several of the team members because it's entirely too cold for them to make the trek to the North Pole.

Problem: Also this year, Global Warming alarmists release an onslaught of stories concerning the idea of manmade global warming. The problem comes in with the 2 weeks of extremely cold weather to counter argue their stupid nonsense.

Problem: Wildfires and volcano eruptions, for the most part, are not caused by man. Even if a man (or to be fair, woman) touches off a wildfire through the accidental cigarette butt out the window, it is through the violence of nature itself, that the fire perpetuates itself. Mankind does not cause the dryness in California, it was dry long before man ever settled in the area. Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, etc. were all desert riddled areas before man settled those areas. Storms were evident, lightning struck, fires started. The difference between then, and now, is that mankind doesn't simply get out of the way when these things occur. We attempt to stop the fires. With a volcano, however, you still have to simply get out of the way. However, it doesn't change the fact that these two disasters are always perpetuated by nature, and 99% of the time, started by nature.

Basically what people are pointing out, is how stupid Global Warming alarmists are, and how the weather contradicts them. We don't have to say a thing, we merely point out how nature takes care of itself.

You see, Global Warming alarmists, such as yourself by your own writings, obviously, think the planet does not take care of itself. You all feel that mankind destroys the helpless environment, and that nature can't run its own course without your intervention. How naive and ridiculously pompous you all sound about your superiority to nature. That is the point that is being made.

Manmade global warming is a myth. It always has been, and it will most likely always be so. The earth warms itself in cycles, and it cools itself in cycles. The earth was considerably more warm during the time of the dinosaurs, then now, and man was not involved with their SUV's, or their other "pollutants". Global Warming alarmists, such as yourself, enjoy quoting from this scientist, or that scientist, or this person, or that person. However, when the opposite is done to any of you, you immediately discount their contribution to science, and to humanity because you disagree with their findings. You ignore the purpose of science: absolute fact, dealing with absolute truth, in the pursuit of knowledge. You think that a "consensus" of scientists mean an absolute truth, when in fact, a consensus means there is no truth, just an ideal. For evidence to this, I point to Christopher Columbus. Before 1492, the earth was flat. Conventional wisdom was, there was an end of the world, and that you would fall off it if you sailed too far. The consensus was, Columbus would fall off the edge of the world. That was the consensus then, and the consensus now, is on the issue of global warming. A consensus in 1491 (one year before Columbus sailed) was not true, and a consensus now, about global warming being caused by mankind, is also not true.

Now, if you want to discuss global warming, and you don't want to be challenged on its notion, and actually be expected to defend your position with absolute fact, rather then insane babble and opinion, then simply visit any number of liberal nonsensical websites. Daily KOS and MoveOn.Org are nice ones to find likeminded robots who spew the same garbage over and over again. I think you will find it greatly enjoying to find people who agree with you, rather then actually use their own intelligence to think and discuss anything of consequence.


"Stop global warming! Asphyxiate a liberal!" -
Show us how far you're willing to go to stop "global warming"

Thanks for a thoughtful respo

Thanks for a thoughtful response, Bishop. I agree with much of what you say: consensus does not make scientific fact, today's scientific trend can be tomorrow's scientific dodo, group-think stinks, etc. But I also see in many of the posts and comments by those who doubt/deny/scoff at global warming theory a kind of juvenile argument by implication, in which today's local weather is used as a punchline to suggest that a long-term trend is implausible. That's no more scientific than paying 10 scientists to agree the sky is green and writing it down as fact.

You say that volcanoes, floods, wildfires and other natural phenomena are the real drivers of climate change. And that they are. But man's scientific exploration has shown that just one cataclysmic natural event -- say the eruption of Krakatoa -- can change the earth's climate for years. So doesn't it make sense that decades and decades of man's spewing CO2 into the air and changing his local environment would add up to an earth-sized climate-changing event? Why put stock in the scientific research of core samples and other experiments that show climate fluctuation long before the appearance of man, but discount the reams and reams of research that also shows the impact of manmade particulates on the environment? Didn't a generation of manmade CFCs lead to the thinning of the ozone over the Antarctic, and the banning of those chemicals help reverse that trend in just a few years? Was that all voodoo science? 

My big question is, don't we risk more by not cutting emissions and researching renewable energy sources than continuing along a path that has already created localized health hazards (smog) and may, if the current body of research bears out, contribute to a global climate shift? You may respond that man is powerless to combat the forces of natural climate change, but that disregards the local health and economic benefits of investing in "cleaner" energy and conservation, and also discounts what evidence we have that man can indeed change the environment for good or bad on a global scale. 

I just don't understand the vitriol surrounding this issue, the "asphyxiate a liberal" comments and such. So many of you think Al Gore and his ilk are hypocrites and profiteers. I don't agree, but will concede that profiteers or egomanics have always latched onto science to make a buck or a mark, whether it's been snake-oil salesmen peddling fake cures to real diseases or folks selling false hope through bomb shelters and solar panels. Quakery and narcissism and media hype don't by themselves disprove a scientific theory. And I think it's a tad disingenous to compare the Flat Earth Society to the concensus opinion of thousands of peer-reviewed scientists who are following the same methodology that has helped cure innumerable diseases and build an inter-connected world economy that many of you fear is at risk from green mania.

cheers,
Fu

Fu,  you came in the middle

Fu,  you came in the middle of a lot which has already been covered.  Check out the documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle on BBC ch4.  Also, as to Al Gore with his energy usage at home 20X that of we peons (not to mention his footprint from jet travel) what else could he be but hypocritical?  AND then he wants us to buy shares in a company he is part owner of the aswage our guilt for carbon footprints?  Snakeoil!  We tire of the whole "concensus" lie, as there are way way way too many reputable scientists who disagree.   Want a true concensus 100% of scientists agree that temperature on Earth comes from the sun.  Check out CO2 is a lagging indicator Sun-cycles a leading indicator of warm cycles on earth.  Causes usually come before effects don't they?  Also remember when the hysteria was a coming ice age?

We don't advocate being irresponsible with the environment but yes we do get somewhat fed up with politicising an issue which is hardly settled scientifically.  As far as UN reports go no one who thinks critically would accuse the UN of producing unbias nonpolitical decrees

More on consensus

If science is by consensus, when are we going to vote on the validity of Principia Mathematica?

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

Curious, why was it whenever

Curious, why was it whenever I saw depictions of the ozone hole over Antarctica, it was ALWAYS taking place in October? 

"Consensus opinion" - Um, consensus is a government thing, not a science thing. Unless, of course, you'd like me to re-start my science project.  The science project is the following: after going through a package of M&Ms, I am left with two red ones and two green ones.  How many total M&Ms do I have left? Now, before you answer, please note I need a consensus to tell me how many are left.

"Peer-reviewed scientists" - ALL "peer-review" is, and the ONLY thing it is, is an excuse for you and other GW religionists to stop critical thinking and allow others to critically think for you.  Sad.

Besides:

1) If the Kyoto Protocol was THE solution to man-made global warming/climate change/whatever it will be called tomorrow, why are China, Brazil, and India, among others, 100% exempt from it?

2) Why is tropical deforestation nowhere mentioned in the Kyoto Protocol?

3) Why aren't environmentalists campaigning to stop farming (you know, the most environmentally destructive activity mankind has engaged in)?

4) Why won't the environmentalists support the idea of increased reliance on nuclear power (works for France, as they get 78.5% of electricity from nukes)?

5) Why don't I hear all these guilt-ridden Leftists whining at the Chinese embassy or the nearest Chinese consulate over the fact that China will be the #1 emitter of greenhouse gases by 2015?  What, is pollution from China cleaner somehow?

6) Exit Glacier in Seward, AK has been melting since 1780.  What man-made activities caused it to start melting?

7) Why, after an active 2005 hurricane season, was last year's so damn quiet?

8) Why did it snow in Lisbon and New Delhi from 2005-2006?  Why did it snow in Johannesburg in July 2006?

9) Why did it snow south and east of San Antonio for Christmas 2004 (San Antonio rarely if EVER sees snow)?

10) Why did San Antonio and Houston, among other cities, get an ice storm in January 2007?

11) Why was the world's record temperature set in 1922?

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

Fu:  "You say that volc

Fu:  "You say that volcanoes, floods, wildfires and other natural phenomena are the real drivers of climate change. And that they are. . . "

Actually, Fu, some leading climatologists credit climate change to sun acitvity, and not the production of GHG, natural or man-made.

Fu:   But man's scientific exploration has shown that just one cataclysmic natural event -- say the eruption of Krakatoa -- can change the earth's climate for years. So doesn't it make sense that decades and decades of man's spewing CO2 into the air and changing his local environment would add up to an earth-sized climate-changing event?"

That's not science; that's assumption.  The issue isn't whether climate is warming or not, because scientific measurements indicate that at least in some places on the planet it is.  The issue has to do with how much is attributable to man-made GHC; the planet was much hotter millions of years ago, when there was absloutely no man-made CO2, so there's reason to ask questions.

Gore and the politically-influenced IPCC insist that man-made GHC is the primary cause of global warming.  Many leaders in the field disagree, and cite errors in the IPCC computer models as but one example (Even the IPCC has greatly reduced is estimates of sea level rise by almost a half since its earlier report, so just how good are the numbers anyway?).  While qualified scientists challenge the assumptions of Gore and the GWers, Gore and the GWers personally attack the challengers (e.g. calling them Flat Earthers) rather than addressing the challenge. 

In some cases, they do concede.  After the faults in the infamous Hockey Stick graphic were illuminated (Leaving out the Little Ice Age was but one), the IPCC dropped it.  Ironically, Gore hasn't, because it greatly deflates his hyperbolic claims .

Why does it make a difference?  Simply this:  If the climate is changing, and civilization is to make massive investments of resources to meet the change, investing in the wrong 'remedies' can put us worse off than had we not taken any action at all. 

But what makes so many of us suspicious are Gore remedies like the Kyoto Accord.  Gore tells us that we're on the brink of global catastrophe, yet Kyoto only mandates CO2 cuts to about 35 'developed' nations (Annex I of Kyoto), while big CO2 producers --- China and India --- face no restrictions.  China, in fact, will soon pass the US as the world's leader CO2 production.  Gore defends this by saying that China needs to be free from restrictions so that its economy can catch up to the developed world's.  But if global warming will result in the deaths of millions (one zealot says billions),  why does the nation on the verge of becoming the world's CO2 leader, continue to produce unabated under Kyoto?

The answer, we suspect, is the global warming is a smoke screen for a global wealth redistribution schme.  It's most ardent supporters generally come from  the Far Left, where they insist that those who question them are a threat to society, and must be muzzled through perosnal attacks.   Flawed science must be faithfully and fully accepted.  

And that's we fight to keep the debate alive, Fu.  Reasonable people can agree to disagree, but Gore and his fellow-travelers attempt to silence legitimate dissenters by ridiculing them rather than responding to the questions.  That's why we attack Gore, who has admitted that he's had to exaggerate the forecasts in order to get governments to comply.  Gore is thus an admitted liar, in addition to being a hypocrite, but being a politician, he probably doesn't see it.

Galvanic

Don't foget Heidi Cullen and her firing a weatherman who disagreed with GW. Who was the one who wanted to make it a crime to deny GW???

Heidi Cullen

She didn't fire anyone.

Heidi Cullen

She didn't fire anyone.

...but she wants anyone who d

...but she wants anyone who disagrees with her on GW stripped of their AMS certification.  That's quite odd.  Isn't science supposed to be about questioning...well...everything?

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

Shoes, This is worth repeatin

Shoes, This is worth repeating.  It was directed at Chumly, who dodged its arguments, ceding the field of battle to me.

"NL207 Says:
April 5, 2007 - 20:06
Chumly, lets see if you've a shread of common sense at all.  Like some of he others on this board, my academic training is as a scientist.  I am going to do something here that is a legitimate engineering estimation technique and that should be enough to convince even you that these gobal warming alarmists deserve neither heed nor credence.  Generally, this technique is called a bounds analysis.  [See here, for a couple of course descriptions that teach this thinking.  I got 1.1 million hits on the search.  I just picked one of the first few. ]  It is intended to discover the maxima and minima of the range of some result over ths domain of its input.  It can be used in the reverse as well, given a range of values, estimate the domain of variability, which I will do here.

Some facts, all of which may be easily Googled.  (1)  the mean temperaure of the planet earth is 288 K.  (2)  The earth's atmosphere accounts for  greenhouse effect of about 33 degrees K, meaning that without its atmosphere, the mean surface temperature of the earth would be a frigid 255 degrees K.  (3)  The present concentration of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere is about 385 ppm.  (4)  Variously, Scientists claim that water vapour, that is, H2O, represents 60-95% of the greenhouse effect. the balance is attributable to an assortment of other greenhouse gases including CO2. (5)  the measured increase in mean surface temperature of the earth over the last century is agreed by science to be 0.6 degrees K.  (6)  Over the last century, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere increased by approximately 35%

What we desire to do here is examine the maximum contribution Human activity might have made to the climate system.

Lets assume that ALL the change in global temperature observed in the last century was caused by CO2 increases,i.e., there were NO natural variations.

Lets also assume that changes in CO2 were the only significant factor in play, i.e., all the change can be blamed on CO2.

And last, lets assume that all the change in CO2 concentration can be blamed on human activity.

Under these asumptions, we see that a 35% increase in CO2 presumably caused a 0.6/33.0 or 1.8% change in the aggregate greenhouse effect.  This suggests that CO2 can be estimated to represent about (3*0.6)/33.0 of the aggregate greenhouse effect bfore the increase, or about 5.4%.  This number agrees very closely with one of the computations made and published by climate scientists that assessed water vapor as 90-95% of the greenhouse effect.  The climate scientists who suggest that water vapor is only 60-70% of the aggregate effect are likely in error, since their result is greatly at variance with observed data.  Interestingly, these are all pro-AGW climate scientists who place the water vapor contribution this low.

Now, Chumly, if you can't see the validity of these estimation techniques and are instead taken in by this junk science Gore and his allies are pedaling, then you are a colossal fool."

I'm glad you won't tell us a

I'm glad you won't tell us a warm spell in august or even january; or that a hurricane isn't evidence of AGW.

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”   H.L. Mencken

Flew - the fact is that it is

Flew - the fact is that it is your side of this debate that constantly tries to apply GW to every unique weather event. Two years ago we had a string of hurricanes and you quickly blamed it on GW (the convicted felon Bobby  Kennedy Jr. also blamed it on Bush) and the GW crowd said we would have even more hurricanes this past year. We had zero. Your entire argument is based on selective and totally inconclusive evidence that satisfies your political agenda. It is frankly junk science when you isolate data and don't consider all data. The general hypothesis of the GW crowd is that the world is supposed to not evolve and remain static. 4.5 billion years of history disproves that hypothesis. But if your crowd is so convinced of immenent demise, I would suggest you all get on a space ship and leave for Shangri-Lai. The rest of us will try and make do.

Statistics

your side of this debate that constantly tries to apply GW to every unique weather event.

That's false.  Even Al Gore knows better than that.

??  That is exactly what Al

??  That is exactly what Al Gore and every other GW alarmist do!

When unusual weather occurs, its always explained as "global warming" these days.  Cold, hot, violent or calm, it does not matter.  The anomaly is always blamed on GW.

No, Al Gore explicitly denied

No, Al Gore explicitly denied that in his recent testimony before the Senate committee.

Fine  Gore told the senate s

Fine  Gore told the senate something different.  He's told other audiences different things.

Maybe you should see his movie.  Then you tell me it does not suggest there is a connection between violent or extreme weather events and human emissions. My favorite is his graphic of Florida under water coupled with a claim that if the western Antarctic Ice sheet were to melt, the sea levels will rise 23 feet.  Never mind that no reputable scientists predict such in the next 100 years.

My statement included Gore's allies.  here is what some of them have to say who connect extreme weather to GW:

"Climate researchers at Purdue University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology separately reported new evidence yesterday supporting the idea that global warming is causing stronger hurricanes"

there's evidence that global warming will make (or has already made) storms stronger for thermodynamic reasons"

Both of these articles also say these opinions are contested.  The base case remains that there ARE AGW proponents who connect severe weather events to GW.  Which leads to the inescapable conclusion that YOU are factually incorrect when you claim otherwise.

FuManShoes

I can't speak for anyone else but, for myself, I've been around 60 years and have seen so many doomsday reports they've made my head spin, more than once.  I've seen reports that the planet was overpopulated, and couldn't sustain itself, that was probably 1 billion people ago.  I've read about "consensus" on the coming ice age, and "consensus" on global warming.  I've read reports on the oil supply running out in10 years, that was sometime in the 1970's. I've seen reports of butter good, butter bad, butter good, butter bad, and now butter good again. 

That being said, how can I take someone, like Al Gore, seriously when he tells me I have to cut down on energy consumption and "go green" at great expense and suffering to my family, when he's up there living high on the hog.  I'm sorry, but if I really, really believed this stuff, I'd be living, not carbon neutral, but people would pay be for my carbon footprint.  Few of these people are doing anything, that indicates to me, they really believe what they're preaching. 

Finally, I've seen most of the signs they're using to describe global warming at one time or another (of course not Greenland melting and a sea level rise of 23 feet) and believe in cycles.  I'll realize I'm wrong if I see Al Gore move into a 3,000 sq. foot house that is run by geothermal and solar energy and has a carbon footprint to die for. 

Never argue with an idiot.  They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Thank you, PB.  You speak fo

Thank you, PB.  You speak for many of us.  Hypocrisy stinks.  And Al Gore is stinking up the planet.

So, because I don't buy certa

So, because I don't buy certain theories, and because I really would rather NOT destroy the world's largest and most advanced economy in order to relieve you of your guilt, I am the most evil bastard on the planet, and purposely am out to destroy earth?

Sure.  Just so you know, I recycle my oil.  My country needs it.  Whenever I hear of oil spills, I think of how much money has been wasted by letting it go like that.  :-)

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

I'm curious, do you clever gu

I'm curious, do you clever gu

I'm curious, do you clever guys and gals dump your old motor oil in a river and admire all the pretty colors?

FuManShoes, can you tell us what the He!! the above statement of yours has to do with our disagreement with AGW?  You libs always use this technique of taking a disagreement you have with us on a particular topic, and taking it to an illogical conclusion. Examples:

1. Embryonic Stem Cell harvesting: Conservatives tend to be against this practice, but to the libs, this means conservatives want people afflicted of certain diseases to suffer and die.  Instead of this drivel, why don't you instead engage us in a debate on Adult Stem Cell research?

2. Having the option to invest a certain percentage of Social Security: Conservatives tend to be in favor of this idea, but to the libs, this means we want Seniors to eat dog food. Instead of this child like charge, why don't you dabate us and prove us wrong (if you can) that investing in private accounts won't give seniors more money to retire on? 

3. Affirmative Action: Conservatives tend to be against this practice, but to the libs, we're racist pigs who don't want minorities to suceed. Instead of this tired old argument, explain to us how a persons color or national origin, and not their merit makes this person an ideal candidate for a job or scholarship.

I could on and on!

You libs had better start dealing with the facts of particular subjects instead of your emotional pleas.  You really sound stupid!

Or perhaps you burn a pile

Or perhaps you burn a pile of trash and note how the ashes look like snow.

Wait... how is buring trash bad? It's good for plants as both the CO2 and the ashes left over are good fertalizer for them. Doesn't that also help speed along decomposition and help make ANYTHING biodegradable? It also takes up far less room that burying everything in a landfill. In fact, think how much longer we could use landfills and how much more we could put in them if all the trash was incinerated first. So ummm... what's your point other than "I'm an inexperienced idiot"? (note: my family has burned our trash for as long as I can remember, not a single environmental downside yet for generations)

decomposing trash produces methane

Following that line of thought, Challenger:  if a pile of trash is left to decompose, it produces methane...a gas that is, according to the Warmists, more problematic than CO2....cow belches and all that.....

"Did we think Kyoto would [reduce global warming] when we signed it? . . . Hell no!" -Al Gore

I'm curious, do you think c

I'm curious, do you think carbon dioxide is a "pollutant"?

I'm curious, do you think everyone who disagrees with you dumps oil in rivers?

I'm curious, why are you so un-nuanced and see everthing in such black and white terms.

I think. Therefore I am -- NOT a lib***l.

ABC Special

To be sure, ABC, when not indulging in their scurrilous put-down of religion, is now indulging in the scurrilous  process of creating the news - again. And since Anna Nicole Smith is now below global warming temperature, they’re having to get back to their ‘sky is falling’ ways of scaring the public about something that doesn’t exist.

By the way, did ABC in their “Going Green” special explained how earth’s anthropogenic global warming is also effecting the warming occurring on other plants?  I thought not.

No mo snow!

The latest forecast discussion from the National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa, calls for not one but two waves of measurable snow across northern Iowa.  Not unheard of, but definitely unusual.

When the House and Senate com

When the House and Senate come back in session....You can be sure if there was major crop damage the very people who will scream and holler and demand Emergency help for their state will also vote for any kind of taxes they can get away with and use under the guise of global warming to inflict upon all of us...will.

Hypocrites all.

Btw...I do not mean every single person, I am speaking of the loony left as a whole here...throw in some RINO's too.

Global Warming my arse.

I think this is known in the

I think this is known in the biz as "piss-poor timing".

LOL!Also piss-poor judgement

LOL!

Also piss-poor judgement to even report such tripe back to back.

How dumb do they really think people are out here in the real world!

When it is cold, people in the real world know it, when it is snowing out, people in the real world know it, when there is damage to crops people in the real world that make a living off of those crops and we consumers end up knowing it...on and on...these jack-asses that pretend something that is happening (record cold temps and breaking records).... isn't happening (GW) are nuts!

NMC

NMC,

To say the least. However, what I find extraordinary is either the arrogance or stupidity of the producers. Certainly, at some point on Thursday or Friday, someone at ABC should have seen the forecasts for the weekend, and come to the conclusion that it would be wise to delay the start of this series. It's only a three-minute segment. Surely, they had plenty of time to find a three-minute filler to reschedule this piece.

As such, either these folks were too stupid to recognize how foolish it was going to be to stick with this segment despite the lead story being about record cold, or they're so arrogant about advancing an agenda that they didn't care.

Is there any other explanation?  ns

Agree 100%, Noel . . . the pr

Agree 100%, Noel . . . the producers are looking like fools. And this is the network level?
This wouldn't have happened in Syracuse in my day as a newsie! I guess good help is a lot harder to find these days.

I remember Easter 1967 I was

I remember Easter 1967 I was in Cleveland and it was like almost 80 degrees and that was on March 26! Global warming in 2007? . . . yeah, right.

January of 1967 was also wh

January of 1967 was also when a snowstorm shut down Chicago, then in 1976 there was a huge Easter snowstorm - Snowbunnies on every lawn!, then another January snowstorm in 1989...

An ice-jam causes flooding in Canada!

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2007/04/07/ice-jam.html

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

Put another log on the fire!

Yet another left-wing network attempt at creating hysteria about this inconvenient lie - and all during a cold snap! Dang - where's Al Gore when we need him? Oh yeah - I forget - he's comfy, cosy in his 10,000 square foot, energy guzzling home in the Volunteer State!  True to form for a left-coast, bleeding-heart, 'do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do' liberal!

Just ordered my "I (hear

Just ordered my "I (heart) My Carbon Footprint" bumper sticker and "I (heart) Global Warming" coffee cup from this sight.  If you're a drive by lib/commie, don't bother looking. Can't wait to see the expression of my lib co-workers see my cup!!!!

Gosh I love wearing shorts in the winter...and swimming too!

"Stop Global Whining!"

Wilbur...You just got busines

Wilbur...

You just got business for that site!

I love it!

ANWR one is going to have to be bought by me...others too!

Thanks!

I was perusing another conser

I was perusing another conservative news site and found the ad on the side bar. I must've spent two hours just reading the stuff.  Then I broke down! 

If they went public, I'd buy stock!  I talked to one of their employees on the phone and she told me that business had almost tripled since the dems took over.

I wonder if there's a lib site like this?  It would be interesting seeing if they were as humorous as we are.  Nah!  Probably not!

Just got my copy of--

"Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies". Love it. I will post one example then go to bed.

lib claim    "Gun violence is at an all time high."

conserv response "Gun violence has been declining rapidly for more than a decade."

Or: lib claim "Gun vi

Or: lib claim "Gun violence is at an all-time high"

conserv response: "Certainly it is, in cities like SF and Wash, DC where legal guns are banned"

Lee T.

U.S. Navy (ret.) / Hillsboro, Oregon

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life. Unless I buy something.

"So doesn't it make se

"So doesn't it make sense that decades and decades of man's spewing CO2 into the air and changing his local environment would add up to an earth-sized climate-changing event?"

No, it doesn't, not when you take into account that one volcanic eruption injects more CO2 into the atmosphere than all of the CO2 man has contributed since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Man is responsible for .28 percent of all greenhouse gases, and 5 percent of CO2. It is absurd to presume we are responsible for global warming, ESPECIALLY when you consider we are experiencing nothing that hasn't happened several times throughout history. Seriously, what's next, you're going to tell us that man is responsible for the rain, even though it has be occuring since the beginning of the planet?

This whole issue is a joke. The sad part is there are so many gullible people who can't wait to jump on the great catostrophe bandwagon whenever it rolls around. Not only are they happy to climb aboard, they practically beg for the opportunity, and will believe ANYTHING to get that chance.

1 degree. 1 freakin' degree is driving you clowns to predict the end of life as we know it. Yeah, like THAT makes sense, lol.

Global Warming Phooey Links. HatTip to NL207

The MSM just can't seem to get anything right. WMDs were in Iraq, Hillary is evil, and Global Warming is not man made.

HatTip to NL207 for half of these items.

That going green clip was hilarious.

That going green clip was hilarious. They had to go all the way to Portugal to find a solar energy system. They had their great solar panel industry leader  - a "serial entrepreneur" (self described - a serial business killer one might say)) - this being his 6th venture - the other 5 failed...

 Then they had on an actually retarded adult to spew " this is the next big thing ". That was their great spokesperson for solar - a retard, literally. I guess they did that, because according to liberals, children and retards are the brightest people we have that we all should listen to. If you don't, you're an evil mean person. That's how da**ed ridiculous the libs and their cloned msm are nowadays.

 Ending up their quackery, they tried to convince us all based on their claim that - right here in Silicon Valley, they changed the world, and always adapt to the new thing that changes the world, and now they're doing it again.

 A 5 time business failure, a Portugal solar power gen, an adult retard cheerleader, and their claim the new thing ( 30 year old solar power) is going front edge in Silicon Valley. 

 The MSM is pathetic, ABC especially so this time. I see it was the same idiot cold records weatherman giving the going green lead in. It wasn't even a different reporter. LOL