There is an article at Power Line Blog posted yesterday with the real scientific data on global warming. Nevermind the fact that those of us in the Northeastern part of the country are recovering from a major ice storm that has left many people without power for four days so far. Since 1998, the climate has been cooling. According to the article, "The world is now colder than in 1940, when the Post-WWII Industrial Revolution started spewing lots of man-made CO 2 in the first place." The article goes on to comment on the Associated Press article that we have to solve the problem of global warming immediately if not sooner:
"This displays a remarkable level of ignorance on the part of the Associated Press. Global temperature records are nowhere near accurate enough to rank years, over a period of centuries, with any confidence. For the recent past, though, we have the world's best data set here in the U.S. And it's true that at one time, it was widely believed that the 1990s were the warmest recent decade. But that was before it was discovered that NASA's James Hansen, Al Gore's chief scientific ally, had been fudging the data, either accidentally or on purpose. NASA was forced to correct its data, with the result that the ten warmest years on record here in the US are as follows: 1934, 1998, 1921, 2006, 1931, 1999, 1953, 1990, 1938, 1939."
I'm not sure how many cars were on the road in the 1930's or how much electricity we were using at the time, but I think the fact that the 1930's were as warm as the 1990's tells us that we really don't understand climate change or its causes. To cripple to major economies of the world to prevent something that may not actually be happening would be a foolish and dangerous mistake.
The article further states:
"When we talk about "global warming" it is important to ask the right questions. Is the earth continuing to warm up from the "Little Ice Age"? Yes, it has been, at least until recently. Fortunately. Is the earth continuing to warm up from the last real Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, when the spot where I am now typing was buried under ice a half mile thick? Yes, thankfully! Is the earth warming up compared to where it was five or ten years ago? No.
Many scientists believe that we are entering an era of global cooling. That may or may not be true; climate science is in its infancy and we cannot predict with any confidence what the weather will be 10, 20, or 50 years hence. What we can say for certain is that the way in which the weather "issue" is covered by the Associated Press and other media outlets is a disgrace."
It's worth it to read the whole article and see the graph included. There is one theory that the lack of sunspot activity may lead us into a prolonged period of global cooling. Meanwhile, I hope everyone gets their power back quickly in the Northeast.
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