Earth at warmest point in 12,000 years, say scientists

[woodbuck27]

Earth at warmest point in 12,000 years, say scientists

26/09/2006 3:49:34 PM

CBC News

The globe is at its warmest in the past 12,000 years, triggering environmental changes that could become "dangerous" if it continues, said the new study published Tuesday.

Researchers led by NASA scientist James Hansen found that the earth has heated up by 0.2 degrees Celsius each decade in the past 30 years. This is consistent with predictions made in 1980s global warming simulations based on greenhouse gas increases.

Further increases could dramatically change sea level and exterminate species, the study concludes.

"This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made pollution," said Hansen, of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

The warming is greatest over land in the northern hemisphere, the study found. The problem is compounded by melting snow and ice at higher latitudes, which uncovers darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight. This increases warming, a process known as positive feedback.

The study also found that the planet has warmed to within one degree Celsius of the hottest temperature of the last million years.

Dramatic change

"If further global warming reaches two or three degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know," Hansen said.

"The last time it was that warm was ... about three million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 metres higher than today."

The researchers noted that the impact of global warming is already becoming evident, citing a 2003 study published in the magazine Nature. It found 1,700 species of plants, animals and insects, that survive within a climatic range, began to move closer to the poles at an average rate of six kilometres a decade through the latter half of the 20th century.

That rate of migration is too slow to keep pace with the climatic zone, which is moving at a rate of about 40 km a decade.

"If we do not slow down the rate of global warming, many species are likely to become extinct," Hansen said.

"In effect we are pushing them off the planet."

The study's results were published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[BallHawk]

Did anybody here see "An Inconvienent Truth?"

Great movie, very eye-opening.

[the_idle_threat]

Obviously, this is a result of people's activities over the past 12,000 years ... why oh why didn't we switch to hybrids like, 10,000 years ago? :cry: :cry: :cry:

It couldn't possibly be because the earth came out of an ice age naturally, or that the earth's temperature varies on a sine wave naturally. How could we enjoy our self-flagellation if we believed something like that?
:wink:

[woodbuck27]

Obviously, this is a result of people's activities over the past 12,000 years ... why oh why didn't we switch to hybrids like, 10,000 years ago? :cry: :cry: :cry:

It couldn't possibly be because the earth came out of an ice age naturally, or that the earth's temperature varies on a sine wave naturally. How could we enjoy our self-flagellation if we believed something like that?
:wink:

" Obviously, this is a result of people's activities over the past 12,000 years ... why oh why didn't we switch to hybrids like, 10,000 years ago? :cry: :cry: :cry: " the_idle_threat

The enemy... something called " the Industrial Age " and progress wrapped up in Urbanization.

Bring back "the Oil lamp". :idea:

It's not... been getting better!!! No way.... Hose.

[oregonpackfan]

Just watch our all-knowledgable President call those scientists "Naive and misguided."

OPF

[Kiwon]

Just watch our all-knowledgable President call those scientists "Naive and misguided."

OPF

Don't need a President to do this. Here's a Senator's take on the latest doomsday fad - http://www.epw.senate.gov/speechitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264027

AMERICA REACTS TO SPEECH DEBUNKING MEDIA GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 28, 2006
SENATOR JAMES INHOFE, CHAIRMAN, SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE SENATE FLOOR SPEECH DELIVERED THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2006

This past Monday, I took to this floor for the eighth time to discuss global warming. My speech focused on the myths surrounding global warming and how our national news media has embarrassed itself with a 100-year documented legacy of coverage on what turned out to be trendy climate science theories.

Over the last century, the media has flip-flopped between global cooling and warming scares. At the turn of the 20th century, the media peddled an upcoming ice age -- and they said the world was coming to an end. Then in the 1930s, the alarm was raised about disaster from global warming -- and they said the world was coming to an end. Then in the 70’s, an alarm for another ice age was raised -- and they said the world was coming to an end. And now, today we are back to fears of catastrophic global warming -- and again they are saying the world is coming to an end.

Today I would like to share the fascinating events that have unfolded since my floor speech on Monday.

CNN CRITICIZES MY SPEECH

This morning, CNN ran a segment criticizing my speech on global warming and attempted to refute the scientific evidence I presented to counter climate fears.

First off, CNN reporter Miles O’Brien inaccurately claimed I was “too busy” to appear on his program this week to discuss my 50 minute floor speech on global warming. But they were told I simply was not available on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I did appear on another CNN program today -- Thursday -- which I hope everyone will watch. The segment airs tonight on CNN’s Headline News at 7pm and repeats at 9pm and midnight Eastern.

Second, CNN’s O’Brien falsely claimed that I was all “alone on Capitol Hill” when it comes to questioning global warming.

Mr. O’Brien is obviously not aware that the U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly rejected Kyoto style carbon caps when it voted down the McCain-Lieberman climate bill 60-28 last year – an even larger margin than its rejection in 2003.


Third, CNN’s O’Brien, claimed that my speech earlier contained errors regarding climate science. O’Brien said my claim that the Antarctic was actually cooling and gaining ice was incorrect. But both the journals Science and Nature have published studies recently finding – on balance – Antarctica is both cooling and gaining ice.


CNN’s O’Brien also criticized me for saying polar bears are thriving in the Arctic. But he ignored that the person I was quoting is intimately familiar with the health of polar bear populations. Let me repeat what biologist Dr. Mitchell Taylor from the Arctic government of Nunavut, a territory of Canada, said recently:


“Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present.”


CNN’s O’Brien also ignores the fact that in the Arctic, temperatures were warmer in the 1930’s than today.


O’Brien also claimed that the “Hockey Stick” temperature graph was supported by most climate scientists despite the fact that the National Academy of Sciences and many independent experts have made it clear that the Hockey Stick’s claim that the 1990’s was the hottest decade of the last 1000 years was unsupportable.


So it seems my speech struck a nerve with the mainstream media. Their only response was to cherry pick the science in a failed attempt to refute me.


It seems that it is business as usual for many of them. Sadly, it looks like my challenge to the media to be objective and balanced has fallen on deaf ears.


SPEECH BYPASSED THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Despite the traditional media’s failed attempt to dismiss the science I presented to counter global warming alarmism, the American people bypassed the tired old traditional media by watching CSPAN or clicking on the Drudge Report and reading the speech online.

From the flood of overwhelming positive feedback I received, I can tell you the American people responded enthusiastically to my message.

The central theme was not only one of thanks, but expressing frustration with the major media outlets because they knew in their guts that what they have been hearing in the news was false and misleading.

Here is a brief sampling:

Janet of Saugus, Massachusetts: “Thank you Senator Inhofe. Finally someone with the guts to stand up and call it what it is -- a sham. I think you have taken over Toby Keith's place as my favorite Oklahoman!!”

Al of Clinton, Connecticut writes: “It's about time someone with a loud microphone spoke up on the global warming scam. You have courage - if only this message could get into the schools where kids are being brow-beaten with the fear message almost daily.”

Kevin of Jacksonville, Florida writes: “I’m so glad that we have leaders like you who are willing to stand up against the onslaught of liberal media, Hollywood and the foolish elected officials on this topic. Please keep up the fight!”

Steven of Phoenix, Arizona writes: “As a scientist, I am extremely pleased to see that there is at least one member of congress who recognizes the global warming hysteria for what it is. I am extremely impressed by the Senator's summary and wish he was running for President.”

Craig of Grand Rapids, Michigan writes: “As a meteorologist I strongly agree with everything you said.”

My speech ignited an internet firestorm. So much so, that my speech became the subject of a heated media controversy in New Zealand. Halfway across the globe, a top official from the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition challenged New Zealand’s television station to balance what he termed “alarmist doom-casting” and criticized them for failing to report the views of scientists in their own country that I cited here in America.

( http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0609/S00306.htm )

As the controversy in New Zealand shows, global warming hysteria has captured more than just the American media.

The reaction to my speech keeps coming in: Just this morning, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper wrote an editorial calling my speech “an unusual display of reason” on the Senate floor.

I do have to give credit to another publication, Congressional Quarterly, or CQ for short. On Tuesday, CQ’s Toni Johnson took the issues I raised seriously and followed up with phone calls to scientist-turned global warming pop star James Hansen’s office. CQ wanted to ask Hansen about his quarter of a million dollar grant from the left-wing Heinz Foundation, whose money originated from the Heinz family ketchup fortune.

As I have pointed out, many in the media dwell on any industry support given to so-called climate skeptics, but the same media completely fail to note Hansen’s huge grant from the partisan Heinz Foundation. It seems the media makes a distinction between ketchup money and oil money.

But Hansen was unavailable to respond to CQ's questions about the 'Ketchup Money’ grant, which is highly unusual for a man who finds his way into the media on an almost daily basis. Mr. Hansen is always available when he is peddling his increasingly dire predictions of climate doom.

ABC NEWS PROMOTES CLIMATE HYSTERIA

I have been engaged in this debate for several years and believe there is a growing backlash of Americans rejecting what they see as climate scare tactics. And as a result, global warming alarmists are becoming increasingly desperate.

Perhaps that explains why the very next day after I spoke on the floor, ABC News’s Bill Blakemore on Good Morning America prominently featured James Hansen touting future scary climate scenarios that could / might / possibly happen. ABC’s “modest” title for the segment was “Will the Earth Become Too Hot? Are Our Children in Danger?”

The segment used all the well worn tactics from the alarmist guidebook -- warning of heat waves, wildfires, droughts, melting glaciers, mass extinctions unless mankind put itself on a starvation energy diet and taxed emissions.

But that’s no surprise – Blakemore was already on the record declaring “After extensive searches, ABC News has found no such [scientific] debate” about manmade catastrophic global warming.

( http://abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=2374968 )

You have to be a pretty poor investigator to believe that. Why would 60 prominent scientists this last spring have written Canadian Prime Minister Harper that “If, back in the mid-1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary.” ( http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=3711460e-bd5a-475d-a6be-4db87559d605 )

On Tuesday’s program, the ABC News anchor referred to Blakemore as “passionate” about global warming. “Passionate” is one word to describe that kind of reporting, but words like objectivity or balance are not.

I believe it’s these kinds of stories which explain why the American public is growing increasingly skeptical of the hype. Despite the enormous 2006 media campaign to instill fear into the public, the number of people who believe that weather naturally changes -- is increasing.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll in August found that most Americans do not attribute the cause of recent severe weather events to global warming, and the portion of Americans who believe that climate change is due to natural variability has increased over 50% in the last five years.

Given the diminishing importance of the mainstream media, I expect that trend to continue.

I hope my other colleagues will join me on the floor and start speaking out to debunk hysteria surrounding global warming. This issue is too important to our generation and future generations to allow distortions and media propaganda to derail the economic health of our nation.

[SkinBasket]

Maybe we can all go back and read the thread about Al's fucking movie instead of rehashing this all over again. Might save some time and bandwidth.

[MJZiggy]

Aww, damn. You wrecked the crack I was about to make about someday having beachfront property in my foothill neighborhood! Ah well. Maybe next doom thread...

[SkinBasket]

Sorry Zig. 3 minutes too late!

[GBRulz]

global warming? I invite you to spend a winter in WI :wink:

[justanotherpackfan]

It snowed today.

[justanotherpackfan]

Did anybody here see "An Inconvienent Truth?"

Great movie, very eye-opening.
Ballhawk, have you ever even seen snow living down there in Florida? You are missing out big time, sledding is awesome.

[Kiwon]

GORE: CIGARETTE SMOKING 'SIGNIFICANT' CONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL WARMING
Fri Sep 29 2006

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore warned hundreds of U.N. diplomats and staff on Thursday evening about the perils of climate change, claiming: Cigarette smoking is a "significant contributor to global warming!"

Gore, who was introduced by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the world faces a "full-scale climate emergency that threatens the future of civilization on earth."

Gore showed computer-generated projections of ocean water rushing in to submerge the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, parts of China, India and other nations, should ice shelves in Antarctica or Greenland melt and slip into the sea.

"The planet itself will do nicely, thank you very much what is at risk is human civilization," Gore said. After a series of Q& A with the audience, which had little to do with global warming and more about his political future, Annan bid "adios" to Gore.

Then, Gore had his staff opened a stack of cardboard boxes to begin selling his new book, "An Inconvenient Truth, The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It," $19.95, to the U.N. diplomats.
.................................................. .................................................. ....

Well, Al, if you have to go out, you might as well go out rich.

[RashanGary]

We get only one earth. I don't have enough information to form an opinion one way or another but considering we only get one planet, I side with caution when making opinions about how we treat the planet we need for survival.

[HarveyWallbangers]

We get only one earth. I don't have enough information to form an opinion one way or another but considering we only get one planet, I side with caution when making opinions about how we treat the planet we need for survival.

If it were a Packer player on the downside of his career, you'd throw it out with the bath water.
:D

[woodbuck27]

Big Business of course doesn't want YOU to believe "the facts" presented by World renowned Scientists; that have substantial evidence of the disasterous effects of Global Warming on OUR planet.

Read this and for the sake of "at least" not being ignorant, to understand "the Truth".

Truth cannot arrive in us, without effort or committment.

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=1116419212006

If it walks like a duck,and quacks like a duck..it's likely a DUCK.

[woodbuck27]

Did anybody here see "An Inconvienent Truth?"

Great movie, very eye-opening.

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/_img/28_stop.jpg

The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort bringing Americans together to declare that global warming is here now and it’s time to act.

STOP #28

Santa Monica, CA — An Inconvenient Truth

May 23, 2006


The truth is coming soon to a theater near you:

Al Gore’s New Global Warming Movie “An Inconvenient Truth”

Al Gore’s critically-acclaimed new film “An Inconvenient Truth” offers the best opportunity we’ve ever had to capture the immediate attention of all Americans and move this country forward quickly to stop global warming.

While the problem is urgent, the solutions are clear, and with American ingenuity and leadership, we can avert disaster and restore the world’s confidence in our values. Let’s work together to make this movie a success, and turn the audience interest into action.

One easy way to get involved as virtual marchers is to buy a ticket and bring a friend to see this movie. Then help spread the word. The more people go see this movie on opening weekend, the more theaters will pick it up. Bring the power of the Virtual March to movie theaters across the country.

Marching forward,
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

[woodbuck27]

Journal: Agency Blocked Hurricane Report

by: Randolph E. Schmid 29 September 2006

A government agency blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disputed the Nature article, saying there was not a report but a two-page fact sheet about the topic. The information was to be included in a press kit to be distributed in May as the annual hurricane season approached but wasn't ready.

"The document wasn't done in time for the rollout," NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John said in responding to the Nature article.

"The White House never saw it, so they didn't block it."

The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

In the new case, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — part of the Commerce Department — in February set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report on the views of agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes.

According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may be having an effect.

In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report needed to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature reported.

Leetmaa, head of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher is currently out of the country, but Nature quoted him as saying the report was merely an internal document and could not be released because the agency could not take an official position on the issue.

However, the journal said in its online report that the study was merely a discussion of the current state of hurricane science and did not contain any policy or position statements.

The report drew a prompt response from Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record), D-N.J., who charged that:

"the administration has effectively declared war on science and truth to advance its anti-environment agenda ... the Bush administration continues to censor scientists who have documented the current impacts of global warming."

A series of studies over the past year or so have shown an increase in the power of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a strengthening that many storm experts say is tied to rising sea-surface temperatures.

Just two weeks ago, researchers said that most of the increase in ocean temperature that feeds more intense hurricanes is a result of human-induced global warming,

a study one researcher said "closes the loop" between climate change and powerful storms like Katrina.

Not all agree, however, with opponents arguing that many other factors affect storms, which can increase and decrease in cycles.

The possibility of global warming affecting hurricanes is politically sensitive because the administration has resisted proposals to restrict release of gases that can cause warming conditions.

In February, a NASA political appointee who worked in the space agency's public relations department resigned after reportedly trying to restrict access to Jim Hansen, a NASA climate scientist who has been active in global warming research.

[mraynrand]

The most important thing to remember about global warming, and any other polical or sociological issue, is to form your opinion first, take sides, invest emotionally in the issue, then seek out only the information that supports your viewpoint. At least that way, you're always right, and you don't have to question or challenge any of your assumptions. Also, make sure you visit websites that say (for example)

stopglobalwarming.org (if you're opposed to global warming) or

stoptheliesaboutglobalwarming.org (if you think global warming is a fraud).

If all else fails, just blame Bush. He's at fault for everything wrong in your life anyway.

[MJZiggy]

If all else fails, just blame Bush. He's at fault for everything wrong in your life anyway.

Ahh someone who gets it. :lol:

[woodbuck27]

If all else fails, just blame Bush. He's at fault for everything wrong in your life anyway.

Ahh someone who gets it. :lol:

:idea:

Do we believe Proffesional Scientists or " the George Bush Administration " and BIG Business... like Exxon ?

The response to that is..

all to clear. :mrgreen:


ESA satellite finds record loss of ozone over Antarctic

03/10/2006 9:30:15 PM

Measurements of the ozone layer over Antarctica by a European satellite have shown a record loss in the shield that protects the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays.


CBC News

The ozone hole is nearly as wide as it was in 2000 and nearly as deep as it was in 1998, the European Space Agency said Monday. The record loss was reached because these dimensions occurred at the same time.

The ESA's Envisat measured a total ozone loss of 40 million tonnes, beating the record of 39 million tonnes set in 2000.

"Such significant ozone loss requires very low temperatures in the stratosphere combined with sunlight," ESA atmospheric engineer Claus Zehner said in a statement.

The ozone layer is the part of the atmosphere 25 kilometres up that acts as a shield protecting life on Earth from damaging UV rays, which can cause sunburns, skin cancer and cataracts. The rays can also harm marine life.

The ozone layer has decreased globally by about 0.3 per cent per year. The loss is seen as a hole over the South Pole because of atmospheric and wind conditions during the southern winter.

The hole grows during the winter, peaking in the southern spring, and is seen until the summer in November or December.

The ozone layer is broken down into oxygen by pollutants in the atmosphere such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

CFCs were banned under the Montreal Protocol in 1987, but are still seen in the atmosphere.

In August, the U.N. Environment Programme said the ozone layer could return to pre-1980 levels by 2049 over much of the world, but it would take until 2065 to restore the shield over Antarctica.

[BallHawk]

Did anybody here see "An Inconvienent Truth?"

Great movie, very eye-opening.
Ballhawk, have you ever even seen snow living down there in Florida? You are missing out big time, sledding is awesome.

Yep, I grew up in Whitefish Bay.