Daily Wisdom

December 07, 2008

Global Warming News - November 2008

Real News Stories To Share With Global-Warming Skeptics

Global Warming Habits Succumb:
Harley Sundown at 'The Tundra Drums' noticed how the effects of a cooling pattern in Alaska changed things this year. He says...

I was really starting to enjoy global warming these past few years until this fall came. I had heard Anchorage people talk about an unusually cool summer that prevented them from walking around in their tank tops and bikinis. I noticed that the salmon berries were on schedule in Scammon Bay. We used to get them in August so many years ago, and after 20 years or so we finally got them on schedule this year.

Then moose season rolled around and I heard one of the hunting groups announce from Black River nearing the end of September that there were plenty of snow geese at their usual feeding spot at Manumik. I thought, “Hmmm, interesting, they usually don’t show up so early but a little later.” Then came another VHF talk between my brother-in-law and some hunters in Manumik near Black River that it was starting to ice up, and my brother-in-law told them to start heading out because of the icing. I went, “Hmmmm again.”

Reflecting on the years and how habits had been developed over the past global warming years, people were caught off guard when the cold weather came and stayed. By early to mid-October, the geese were already prepared to leave our area before people could do their yearly roundup of the white geese. Then came the freeze-up that started two weeks back and now has resulted in a full freeze... Somehow, I think my brother-in-law knew by the old way of observing that freeze-up may hit us and stay. The rest of us missed the boat and got frozen before we knew it.

MIT Scientists Baffled About Methane:

Methane Molecule
Scientists at MIT have recorded a nearly simultaneous world-wide increase in methane levels. This is the first increase in ten years, and what baffles science is that this data contradicts theories stating man is the primary source of increase for this greenhouse gas. It takes about one full year for gases generated in the highly industrial northern hemisphere to cycle through and reach the southern hemisphere. However, since all worldwide levels rose simultaneously throughout the same year, it is now believed this may be part of a natural cycle in mother nature - and not the direct result of man's contributions.

The two lead authors of a paper published in the Geophysical Review Letters, Matthew Rigby and Ronald Prinn, the TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, state that as a result of the increase, several million tons of new methane is present in the atmosphere. Methane accounts for roughly one-fifth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, though its effect is 25x greater than that of carbon dioxide.

Prinn has said, "The next step will be to study [these changes] using a very high-resolution atmospheric circulation model and additional measurements from other networks." The primary concern now is that 2007 is long over. While the collected data from that time period reflects a simultaneous world-wide increase in emissions, observing atmospheric trends now is like observing the healthy horse running through the paddock a year after it overcame some mystery illness. Where does one even begin? And how relevant are any of the data findings at this late date?

One thing does seem very clear, however; science is only beginning to get a handle on the big picture of global warming. Findings like these tell us it's too early to know for sure if man's impact is affecting things at the political cry of "alarming rates." We may simply be going through another natural cycle of warmer and colder times - one that's been observed through a scientific analysis of the Earth to be naturally occurring for hundreds of thousands of years.

NASA-GISS Data Incorrect:
According to an article in the 'Telegraph' (UK), a "surreal scientific blunder raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming." On November 10th, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that the previous month was the hottest October on record.


This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.

The error was so glaring that when it was reported on the two blogs - run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the notorious "hockey stick" graph - GISS began hastily revising its figures. This only made the confusion worse because, to compensate for the lowered temperatures in Russia, GISS claimed to have discovered a new "hotspot" in the Arctic - in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year.

A GISS spokesman lamely explained that the reason for the error in the Russian figures was that they were obtained from another body, and that GISS did not have resources to exercise proper quality control over the data it was supplied with. --Christopher Booker, The World Has Never Seen Such Freezing Heat, November 16th, 2008

As the article goes on to say, "This is an astonishing admission." NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is an agency of the United States government, and responsible for the nation's public space program. Surely it has plenty of employees and a huge budget, and yet it does not have the resources comparable to those of two lone bloggers? An event like this brings into question the credibility of the entire GISS program and any findings it may produce.

Yet last week's latest episode is far from the first time Dr Hansen's methodology has been called in question. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s. --Christopher Booker, The World Has Never Seen Such Freezing Heat, November 16th, 2008

These revelations force some to conclude that NASA's GISS is no longer a scientific organization, but merely a political tool for those who push the Global Warming / Climate Change agenda.

New Film Rebuts Global Warming Hysteria:
A new Irish film claims that climate change guru Al Gore is an alarmist and that those who think they are saving the planet are only hurting the poor. If the advance publicity is anything to go by, 'Not Evil Just Wrong' will do for Al Gore what Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 did for George W Bush. "This is the film Al Gore and Hollywood don't want you to see," declares the website for the latest work by film-makers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer...


The website goes on to say that their latest film - which takes on what are described as global warming alarmists - is "the most controversial documentary of the year". Indeed, it could very well be the most controversial. And Al Gore and Hollywood may well not want you to see it. And in that respect, Gore and co are actually succeeding for the moment. Because there is no completed film. Not yet anyway.

You can see a YouTube trailer HERE.

McElhinney and McAleer have raised almost $1 million (€799,000) but need a total of $4.5m (€3.6m) to allow for a full cinema release. They say they were acutely disappointed at being turned down for funding by the Irish Film Board, especially its conclusion that it was "repetitive and creatively thin". Instead, they have gone onto the internet hoping to solicit donations in the style of Barack Obama. The finished product will be around 90 minutes long. Both film-makers rebut the Film Board's criticism by pointing out that a near-complete version of the film has been chosen in the audience category at the Amsterdam Film Festival later this month.

However, for now, there is no finished product. And that creates a bit of a difficulty. The merits of the case put forward in the film can only be judged - for now - on a short trailer and on the spirited arguments put forward by its two creators, and not on the work itself.

Read more HERE.

'Freezing' At Global Warming Rally :
On November 18th, a small global warming rally was held near the U.S. Capitol that was said to be "freezing" cold. About 300 people were in attendance.


DC Global Warming Rally - Nov 18.

It looks like the "Gore Effect" made itself felt once again. For those of you who might not be aware it, here is the Urban Dictionary definition of the "Gore Effect"...

1. The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming. Hence, the Gore Effect. --Urban Dictionary, Gore Effect

Here are a few examples of the Gore Effect...

- Australia, November 2006: Al Gore is visiting two weeks before summer begins. The Gore Effect strikes: "Ski resort operators gazed at the snow in amazement. Parents took children out of school and headed for the mountains. Cricketers scurried amid bullets of hail as Melburnians traded lunchtime tales of the incredible cold." (The Age)

- New York, March 2004: "Gore chose January 15, 2004, one of the coldest days in New York City's history, to rail against the Bush administration and global warming skeptics... Global warming, Gore told a startled audience, is causing record cold temperatures." (NY Environment News)

Here is how 'Luis' at 1Sky blog described the event...

Over 4,000 climate activists have been fanning out today throughout the country to welcome our newly-elected President and Congress and urge them to take bold climate action next year. More than 300 of them gathered near the U.S. Capitol today for a Climate Action Now rally co-sponsored by 1Sky, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), 350, and other partner organizations. It was freezing in DC today (I should know -- I was there!)... --Luis, Climate Action Now DC rally: freezing, but fired up for change!, November 18th, 2008


The Killer Frost For Global Warming:
On November 21st in the Washington Times, Wesley Pruden opines about global warming. Here are a few exceprts...

Turn up the heat, somebody. The globe is freezing. Even Al Gore is looking for an extra blanket. Winter has barely come to the northern latitudes and already we've got bigger goosebumps than usual. So far the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports 63 record snowfalls in the United States, 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month. Only 44 Octobers over the past 114 years have been cooler than this last one.

The polar ice is accumulating faster than usual, and some of the experts now concede that the globe hasn't warmed since 1995. You may have noticed, in fact, that Al and his pals, having given up on the sun, no longer even warn of global warming. Now it's "climate change." The marketing men enlisted by Al and the doom criers to come up with a flexible "brand" took a cue from the country philosopher who observed, correctly, that "if you've got one foot in the fire and the other in a bucket of ice, on average you're warm." On average, "climate change" covers every possibility.

This is similar to the science practiced by Dr. James Hansen at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the source of much of the voodoo that Al Gore has been peddling since the doctor showed up at a Senate hearing in 1988 and told ghost stories that Al swallowed whole. Only last month Dr. Hansen's institute announced that October was the hottest on record, and then said "uh, never mind". The London Daily Telegraph calls this "a surreal blunder [that] raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming."

[...]

It's clear now that the earth has been cooling for the past decade, to the sorrow of the special pleaders and despite everything Al can do about it. The solar cycle peaked, the sun is quieter, the sunspots have faded and everybody but Al is cooling off.

Even the United Nations says so. The director of the U.N.'s panel on climate change concedes that nature has overwhelmed everything man can do and it might even be another decade before man can rally and the warming resumes. Until then, like it or not, nature rules the cosmos. --Wesley Pruden, The Killer Frost For Global Warming, November 21st, 2008

You can read the whole article HERE.

Global Warming Greater Threat Than Terror?:
In a stinging analysis of former President Bill Clinton's assertion that Global Warming is a greater threat than terrorism, Marc Sheppard at the 'American Thinker' Blog raises some interesting points about global warming while at the same time repudiating Clinton's remarks...

Forgive me, as it's broken record time again -- but the warming experienced in the latter quarter of the 20th century ended in 1998. Furthermore, as of October's RSS satellite data, the 12 month global average temperature trend was cooler than last year and continuing its fall since 2005. And when the data for 2008 are released next month, it seems likely this year will confirm a mean annual decline over last... (Concerning Al Gore's response to such facts) we've come to expect what David Whitehouse so marvelously refers to as "data denial" from the Goracle.

[...]

But consider this graph, charting both NASA's Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) satellite and Britain's Hadley Climate Research Unit's ground station temperature data against atmospheric CO2 levels as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii between 1998 and 2008. Its IPCC greenhouse orthodoxy-shredding depiction of steadily rising CO2 relative to flat or dipping temperatures after 1998 should, at the very least, stop the rabid attacks upon AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) apostates and open the debates that never really started despite alarmists' insistence already ended.

But nearly 10 years of actual measurements contradicting IPCC doctrine should also give those lending a decade-dead non-problem priority over the unthinkable threat of nuclear or germ terrorism pause. Alarmists shout loudly of a hypothetical CO2 level of 450 ppm representing a tipping point - supposedly triggering irreversible and cataclysmic global warming. But that the all too real catastrophic tipping point a nuclear capable al-Qaeda would represent poses the greater danger should be glaringly obvious.

Even to ex-presidents with a history of missing terrorism's warnings and ignoring repeated opportunities to capture or kill its most infamous and deadly architect. --Marc Sheppard, American Thinker, December 3rd, 2008


Global Warming vs. CO2; click to enlarge.

You can read the whole article HERE.

2 Comments:

At 12/08/2008 3:44 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're doing a great job.

Yet still, the "true believers" just don't get it...

 
At 12/08/2008 8:27 AM , Blogger Hawkeye® said...

Camo,
Thanks! Amazing isn't it? Coolest year since 1998, and no sunspots... Who'd a thunk it?

(:D) Best regards...

 

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