Topic: Global Warming

[KJP]

Interesting item in this about an Exxon memo and the Bush Administration....  KJP
 
________________________
 
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=603752

The Independent
23 January 2005
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

Global warning has already hit the danger point that international attempts to curb it are designed to avoid, according to the world's top climate watchdog.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told an international conference attended by 114 governments in Mauritius this month that he personally believes that the world has "already reached the level of dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere" and called for immediate and "very deep" cuts in the pollution if humanity is to "survive".

His comments rocked the Bush administration - which immediately tried to slap him down - not least because it put him in his post after Exxon, the major oil company most opposed to international action on global warming, complained that his predecessor was too "aggressive" on the issue.

...

More at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=603752

[PigBoy]

That last point was something I had not considered until I recently read somewhere that even if global carbon dioxide emissions were reduced to zero right now, warming would still continue for quite a while because of all the stuff that's already there.

[SarahBeth]

Scary stuff.

[SChristopher]

I think it is something that is written off in general because of greed. Its already happening though, look at recent winters....I know climates have always varied but, it seems to be getting weirder and weirder...

[MR.COFFEE]

All because of your Soccer Moms SUV!!

[buildingcincinnati]

Global warming is just a theory.  It doesn't really exist.  Scientists disagree.

[/sarcasm]

[KJP]

I think it is something that is written off in general because of greed. Its already happening though, look at recent winters....I know climates have always varied but, it seems to be getting weirder and weirder...

In the movie "The Day After Tomorrow", which was criticized by climate scientists because it depicted such a short time duration of climate change, contained scenes of:

> multiple powerful hurricanes that killed thousands (see Florida and Carribean Fall 2004)
> tornadoes in Los Angeles (see LA in early January 2005 -- plus numerous other storm-related damage)
> heavy snow in southern Texas (Brownsville just had its first White Christmas in over 70 years, while cities just to the north got almost a foot of snow)
> state-sized chunks of ice breaking away from the polar ice caps (was already happening before the movie the was made -- the Larsen ice shelf in Antartica, where the opening scene took place, is nearly all gone. National Geographic just published some sobering satellite images of it)

I didn't include the Indian Ocean tsunami, because it was geologic not meteorologic in source, nor the 10- to 20-foot snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains earlier this month because it didn't occur in a populated area.

Like the old saying about a frog in boiling water, if you put him in it while its boiling, he'll jump right out. But if you put him in the pot when the water is temperate and slowly turn up the heat, he'll boil to death.

KJP

[tcj1985]

Global Warming???  That's just a crack-pot, left-wing, bleeding-heart liberal imaginary theory!
LOL

Honestly, I've heard people talk like this about global warming; it's pretty scary how ignorant some Americans can be.  The degree to which global warming and its effects can be debated; but the theory itself and its occurrence cannot.

[atlas]

I dont think theres a debate as to wether its occuring, but why.  It is not fact that humans are creating it.  There could be weather patterns larger than we could imagine that are going on but we dont know about them because we have only been measuring weather for so long.  Having said that, I do not believe that but it could be true.  Just trying to play devils advocate here to everyone who has the same belief.  Didnt want to get oo much preaching to the choir on here.

[Jeff]

It could be we are coming to the end of an interglacial, too (the earths climate seems to be due for this).  The climate could spike (i.e. global warming), then crash down into a cold period.

Hard to say how much human intervention is contributing to this.

In any case we are in it, so fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.  We are living in interesting times, as the Chinese curse says.

[David]

Humans exhale carbon dioxide. The earth's population is much higher than it was 100 years ago. I wonder how much of an effect that has.

[KJP]

Bush 'prepares emissions U-turn'
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Published: 17 September 2006

President Bush is preparing an astonishing U-turn on global warming, senior Washington sources say.

After years of trying to sabotage agreements to tackle climate change he is drawing up plans to control emissions of carbon dioxide and rapidly boost the use of renewable energy sources.

Administration insiders privately refer to the planned volte-face as Mr Bush's "Nixon goes to China moment", recalling how the former president amazed the world after years of refusing to deal with its Communist regime. Hardline global warming sceptics, however, are already publicly attacking the plans.

...

More at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1604092.ece

[noozer]

Global warming a hot topic
Technology remains key to solving environmental problem, U.S. energy official says at Columbus meeting
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Paul Wilson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
 
 
The United States will continue its focus on technology and research, not mandatory curbs on emissions advocated by many countries,to combat global warming, Bush administration officials said yesterday in Columbus.

"Regardless of regulatory mechanisms and timetables, nothing will happen without the technology," said Jeffrey D. Jarrett, assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. "We’re focusing on lowering the cost of that technology."

Jarrett and other high-ranking administration officials spoke in Columbus during the second day of a weeklong meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. The group consists of government and industry officials from the United States, India, Japan and South Korea.

...

More at:
http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/11/01/20061101-D1-00.html

[AmrapinVA]

It's 26 (wind chill approaching the 10's) this morning outside DC. I wish global warming would hurry up and get there.

[AmrapinVA]

I think it is something that is written off in general because of greed. Its already happening though, look at recent winters....I know climates have always varied but, it seems to be getting weirder and weirder...

In the movie "The Day After Tomorrow", which was criticized by climate scientists because it depicted such a short time duration of climate change, contained scenes of:

> multiple powerful hurricanes that killed thousands (see Florida and Carribean Fall 2004)
> tornadoes in Los Angeles (see LA in early January 2005 -- plus numerous other storm-related damage)
> heavy snow in southern Texas (Brownsville just had its first White Christmas in over 70 years, while cities just to the north got almost a foot of snow)
> state-sized chunks of ice breaking away from the polar ice caps (was already happening before the movie the was made -- the Larsen ice shelf in Antartica, where the opening scene took place, is nearly all gone. National Geographic just published some sobering satellite images of it)

I didn't include the Indian Ocean tsunami, because it was geologic not meteorologic in source, nor the 10- to 20-foot snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains earlier this month because it didn't occur in a populated area.

Like the old saying about a frog in boiling water, if you put him in it while its boiling, he'll jump right out. But if you put him in the pot when the water is temperate and slowly turn up the heat, he'll boil to death.

KJP

While I'm with ya on the fact that global warming is a very real threat that movie did alot more damage than good, in my opinion.

The idea that a cut-off Gulf Stream would create a super-low over Siberia is far fetched. While the climate would dramatically change Europe and the US East Coast...it would have a very limited effect in say Northern Canada or Siberia. The idea that these lows would have tropical charcteristics like "eyes" is also hard to follow. Hurricanes are fed by water temperature...extratropical/non-tropical lows are fed by the difference in air temperature throught the atmosphere. The eye forms because the humid air "wrung out" in bands that flow away from the center, then drops as extremely dry air.

It's also hard to believe that a large low pressure system could carry alot of moisture from say the Northwest Territories or Siberia due to fact that Low Pressure spins counter clockwise...meaning it would have to draw air from the Arctic Ocean (which is an area comparable to the Sahara) then take that limited moisture base and spit it out over land.

Even using the examples you used are hard to say the movie is "right". Yeah, it did snow in Brownsville and they had 8-10" in Victoria....but places even further north like Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Little Rock saw nothing. The movie implied the further north you go...the worse it was going to get.

The tornadoes in LA, in the movie, had to at least F4's to cause the damage they inflicted....while there have been thunderstorms or even tornadoes/waterspouts in LA county...I haven't heard of anything worse than say a microburst or F1. The terrain and it's proximity to dry areas and air makes it very difficult for anything worse to form.

This year's hurricane season was normal. While global warming has an effect, there are still many local and regional variations (like El Nino/La Nina) that play into strength and amount of stroms. It's really not fully understood by weather experts and may never be.

It's was just hard for me to follow, knowing the things I know about weather. I don't think climatologists are arguing that global warming dosen't exist by dissing the movie...it's just that Hollywood could be setting the cause back by showing things that really don't make sense.

[KJP]

I know. I was having a bit of fun, while also pointing how some of the movie's obvious exaggerations were happening, though often on a smaller scale. Thus, I should have ended that message with a  or maybe a  or even a  or possibly even a 

[AmrapinVA]

Gotcha.

[kingfish out of water]

Human impact is positively causing climate change, and if you deny that fact you either have your head in the sand, up your ass, or in a far fouler orientation: positioned toward Fox News.

I gave up eating meat nearly 14 years ago primarily out of protest against the meat industry. Among a host of other ills (drastic deforestation, antibiotic-resistant toddlers, pubescent 6 year-olds, brain-gooifying diseases, etc.) Big Meat is a huge source of greenhouse gas. How so? Brace yourself: bovine flatulence.

Stop laughing.

It is with bittersweet satisfaction that I report--

STOP LAUGHING!

--these latest findings:


From DailyIndia.com, December 11, 2006

Cow flatulence major contributor to green house gases

Edinburgh, Dec 11 (ANI): Purists may find it hard to find faults with the holy cow, but for hard nosed scientists, they are the single largest contributors to the malady of global warming.

A recent study has revealed that cow flatulence is to a great extent responsible for global warming and the green house effect.

British researchers have found that bovine emissions account for about one million tonnes or roughly 36 percent of the UK's methane emissions, and cows contribute the vast majority of it.

As such, the government is now asking farmers to change the fodder in so as to cut down on greenhouse gases.

...

More at:
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/91770.php/Cow-flatulence-major-contributor-to-green-house-gases

[KJP]

Damn, and I thought that foul stench was coming from my uncle!

[AmrapinVA]

Just a few tidbits I saw on the Weather Channel today:

Consecutive days of above average temperatures:

Minneapolis - 29 days
Chicago - 28 days
Detroit - 28 days
New York - 26 days

More stats I have seen from other media lately:

The local NBC weather man here in DC said today is day 31 at National of above average temps.

It's the warmest Lake Erie has ever been off the Buffalo coast for Jan. 1: 43 F.  Average: 35 F.

Caribou, Maine had it's warmest year since they started recording them 100+ years ago.

On a positive UO note: If this keeps up, no one will head south or west anymore.

[David]

Im enjoying the nice weather personally... shame it melts our polar ice caps.

[KJP]

That's just it. I like the fact that Cleveland's winter temperatures in recent years have been more like Cincinnati's or even Nashville's. But I don't like what it's doing to ice shelves, glaciers and even the amount of bugs. There was a tidbit on CNN that if there isn't a cold spell this winter to kill off grubs in the soil and mosquito larvae in wetlands, this summer is going to be one awfully buggy season!

[kingfish out of water]

Attention residents of Briny Breezes. I'm only going to say this once: SELL!


Developer courts Fla. mobile home owners

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 2, 6:13 PM ET

BRINY BREEZES, Fla. - The owners of nearly 500 mobile homes in one of the last waterfront trailer-park towns in South Florida stand to become instant millionaires if they agree to sell to a developer. But some are holding out, saying there are things more important than money.

"You just can't buy a way of life," said Tom Byrne, a 68-year-old retired sales executive from New York who doesn't want to sell even though he would make a little over $1 million on the trailer and site he bought two years ago for $150,000. "This is my home."

Briny Breezes is a down-market relic of old Florida, surrounded by glamorous multimillion-dollar homes and splashy high-rise condos.

...

More at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070102/ap_on_bi_ge/million_dollar_trailers_6

[AmrapinVA]

Im enjoying the nice weather personally... shame it melts our polar ice caps.

That's just it. I like the fact that Cleveland's winter temperatures in recent years have been more like Cincinnati's or even Nashville's. But I don't like what it's doing to ice shelves, glaciers and even the amount of bugs. There was a tidbit on CNN that if there isn't a cold spell this winter to kill off grubs in the soil and mosquito larvae in wetlands, this summer is going to be one awfully buggy season!

Screw the glaciers....they had their chance 10,000 years ago...and they lost!

[Brewmaster]

I love this quote about global warming.  Very balanced...



"At the risk of committing heresy, I'd like to suggest that the debate about climate change include, for once, a fair assessment of the benefits alongside the declamations of harm.

"For example, cold winter storms kill a lot of people. More people die from blizzards and cold spells than from heat waves...

"In fact, there is no question that most people prefer less severe winters. North Dakota and Maine haven't been gaining much in population. Every census since 1960 shows rapid population growth in Florida, California, Arizona, Texas and Nevada. For the elderly and infirm, warmer weather is definitely healthier as well as more pleasant."

-- Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Source: Forbes magazine

[kingfish out of water]

From the Competitive Enterprise Institute website:

"The best environmental think tank in the country" - The Wall Street Journal

'nuff said.

[ColDayMan]

Global warming is the best thing that has happened for black people since David Duke was on Jenny Jones in '98.

[kingfish out of water]

^It's certainly helped close the swimming-proficiency gap.

[ColDayMan]

Indeed.

[KJP]

Youse guys lost me. Yo no comprendo.

[Florida Guy]

An unusual weather pattern or Global Warming? This is Cleveland in January...

http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=29549&bw=

[Florida Guy]

^ If your not into fishing then wait to see the city at the end of the clip.

[kingfish out of water]

Youse guys lost me. Yo no comprendo.

[KJP]

Gotcha.

[Quimbob]

Scientists' Report Documents ExxonMobil’s Tobacco-like Disinformation Campaign on Global Warming Science
Oil Company Spent Nearly $16 Million to Fund Skeptic Groups, Create Confusion

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacco.html

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 3–A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists offers the most comprehensive documentation to date of how ExxonMobil has adopted the tobacco industry's disinformation tactics, as well as some of the same organizations and personnel, to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue. According to the report, ExxonMobil has funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science.

"ExxonMobil has manufactured uncertainty about the human causes of global warming just as tobacco companies denied their product caused lung cancer," said Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists' Director of Strategy & Policy. "A modest but effective investment has allowed the oil giant to fuel doubt about global warming to delay government action just as Big Tobacco did for over 40 years."

Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to "Manufacture Uncertainty" on Climate Change details how the oil company, like the tobacco industry in previous decades, has

    * raised doubts about even the most indisputable scientific evidence
    * funded an array of front organizations to create the appearance of a broad platform for a tight-knit group of vocal climate change contrarians who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings
    * attempted to portray its opposition to action as a positive quest for "sound science" rather than business self-interest
    * used its access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming

...

More at:
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacco.html