By A.C. McCloud
Both ABC News and Time have sensationalistic articles out about global warming, essentially telling us to put our heads between our legs and kiss our posteriors goodbye. By the way, rarely does one see such an ominous headline about climate, unless it’s the infamous Newsweek piece from 1975 (which seems to have disappeared).
Is the warming really out of control? As any scientist would respond, “hard to say.” The evidence clearly suggests we’ve been warming, the issue is just how much can be attributed to the exhaust end of automobiles or smoke stacks.
Here in Memphis our average temperature was above normal eleven out of the twelve months of 2005, and January 2006 was nearly 10 degrees above normal. Statistically speaking, that is stunning.
But to understand just how widespread the warming might be we need to look to satellite data, since it’s less prone to data corruption compared to ground based sensors. The sky kodaks do show a rise, especially in the last ten years. Notice there was no visible trend in the late 80s as alluded to by the ABC coverage.
Here’s the bad news. Let’s say most of the warming is being caused by our “carbon footprint,” as James Hansen and the others assert. There’s simply nothing we can do to stop it. Nothing. It’s coming much too fast and furious. Ironically, efforts like Kyoto wouldn’t have stopped it either.
Conversely, if carbon is NOT the major contributor to our present warming, there is even less nothing we can do to stop it. We’re left to hope this is an aberation on the chart.
In the final analysis, whether we’re toasting ourselves to death or not is of secondary concern, since we’re going to run out of cheap fossil fuels anyway. The solution calls for innovative thinking rather than panicky socialism. For example, there are some cool things in ideaspace right now, like mining Helium-3 from the moon. It’s high time for some new-age Edisons, Bells and Whitneys to begin saving the day.
18 comments so far
Polar ice is melting and sea levels are rising. That cannot be denied.
but donna, it is not because of man
That’s really the crux of the issue, guys–whether or not the melting (which is cyclical) is being caused or enhanced by our actions. Surely we’re slightly enhancing things somewhat, but exactly how much is difficult to measure.
As pointed out in the article, if Memphis’ recent warming trend is being directly caused by carbon we can’t realistically stop it. Of course, if caused by solar influences, orbital wobbles, or other such things no one talks about–we’re simply along for the ride.
Anyone interested in understanding global warming and why (not puesdo-science, but the real deal) just visit my blog page “Global Warming 101″. The same satellite data confirms that “most” of the global warming we are experiencing is due to solar activity. The bad news is that we are due another even more violent period of solar activity by the end of the decade. Cut out all the “carbon” you want, but the Sun just don’t care.
John is right. I read where “global warming” is occurring on Mars, too. So unless the Martians are driving Hummers en masse, I doubt that “global warming” is manmade or even man-exacerbated. Solar activity is likely the culprit.
Or, maybe it’s all George Bush’s fault! For those of you on the left, that was sarcasm.
BTW, I’m a native Memphian living in Jacksonville, FL, so I’m glad I found you guys. Though I absolutely love it here, I do get a little homesick from time to time, so it’s nice to get a little home news every now and then!
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2004/06-14-2004/science.htm
Hey Jonathan, welcome. As the great Elvis once said, “people ask me what I miss about Memphis. I say, everthing”.
As to global warming, good point about the Mars warming. But as you probably know, Mars has been practicing rampant capitalism and barbarism since the 20s, much like the republicans are accused of doing here. It probably led to their demise and no doubt triggered the infamous attack which Orson Welles documented, which in reality was probably a war for oil or other resources. :-)
[…] Hey, Main Street Journal brought it up. […]
[…] See what you started McCloud! […]
News story today about death of massive 800-year-old coral reef. Because of global warming, scientists say.
Donna, just curious–if it was conclusively proven that ALL our recent warming has caused by emmissions from industrialization, what would your solution be?
I’m not a scientist, McCloud. You saw what you chose to see in my comments. I’m repeating what has been reported or what I have observed with my own eyes. I did not give my opinion about the cause of the warming. I’m saying the warming itself cannot be denied. I don’t know what’s causing the warming, probably a combination of things, some of them possibly cyclical in some grand natural cycle of things. As for the human contribution to global warming, I defer to the scientists. Humans are affecting the natural environment in many ways. How can anyone deny that? Will we be toast as world population and industrialization continue to increase? Some very smart experts think so.
Frederick Seitz
Past President, National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.
President Emeritus, Rockefeller University
He doesn’t think so..
http://www.oism.org/pproject/
Donna, your points are well taken and it might surprise you that I agree with several of them. I’m not saying humans aren’t contributing, just questioning how much. From my experience I’d say it’s difficult to determine. Just because we see a few more strong hurricanes or a warming trend doesn’t amount to conclusive proof, since we don’t possess a 10,000 year or more record of reliable satellite or surface based observations
to use as a benchmark.
Also, current NOAA supercomputers are good out to about 4-6 days. That’s better than before, but beyond that range it’s pretty much chaos. I’ve never seen a good explanation of why the climate change models are any better, especially since they’ve had mixed success in trying to run them in reverse to get actual conditions 100 years ago. They also don’t account for wildcards like volcanoes or solar effects.
But I asked for your solution, so it’s only fair to provide mine (this applies only to a scenario of human-induced warming, if it’s mostly solar or some other mechanism, we’re spectators). Why not convene an international panel of engineers/inventors and task them to study alternate energy sources. This group would be responsible for developing several alternatives by a fixed time, and they could take feedback and ideas from home country contributors. The final report would be suggestive not directive, but it would be given widespread press, therefore the public would have a voice, not just politicians or lobbiests.
Not sure such a thing could be done without being corrupted by politics or corporate influence, it’s just an idea. Something must be done eventually, since the oil won’t last forever.
Let the Free Market work on it and keep the Federal Government out of it.
Many folks are already working on alternative energy sources, and people were pressing for these back in the Sixities when I was just a budding hell-raiser. But the proposals I’ve seen won’t supply the massive and growing appetite. On the other hand, NASA has been working on some stuff. . . .
Yep, The Environmental nuts have prevented us from building Nuclear power plants for over 30 years. I wished that all our power plants were nuclear, it is the Safest and Least Expensive and Better for the environment that any other Mass produced energy.
Look, I love our planet and nature but I’m a realist and I believe in facts. There are no facts to prove global warming and I agree with cleaning up our environment but I bristle when people try to coerce me to go along with them, like the current environmentalists and liberals, by bullying me with lies and deceptions. I’ve been around for 44 years & I remember some very hot summers and some very cold winters in south Texas during the 60’s & 70’s. hell it just snowed in south Texas & northern Mexico this past winter. Give me a break. I believe it’s just a weapon that liberal;s use to scare people which they do with most things because they know they can scare people with disaster scenarios. Once they are back in power I guarantee you won’t here any more about it.