Snow in our mountains!!!

[Frans]

Its discouraging to learn information about the state of our planet. It all seems so grim.

The salmon season was shut down this year.

 

[Stumper]

It bothers me that folks nay say global warming without even understanding the theory in the first place. I am not a scientist and cannot say if it is or is not happening but I can tell you that what happens one season or one year does not have much of an effect on a larger trend. Global warming refers to global mean temperatures over decades and longer. A high temperature here and low temperature there are not significant and personal anecdotes are meaningless. Global warming computer models predict that some areas will get hotter, some cooler, some wetter and some drier. It also predicts that the weather will get more erratic. There are also long term trends at play that may mask the effects in some areas while amplifying them in other areas. From what I have heard the American Southwest is due for an extended drought based on dendrochronological records.

People who blame individual weather events on global warming or note how cold it is this year as proof that it is not happening are just proving their ignorance of scientific method.

Darin, That is a good post and your closing point is spot on but let me emphasize that you properly referenced a THEORY. Not only is Global Waming/Global Climate Change/Global Envirosocialist Excuse for Societal Manipulation/ The Religion of The Green Weinie based on unconfirmed theory, it is chickenshit theory. 30 years ago my science teachers were scaring us with a possible impending Ice Age. A dozen years ago there was buzz about possible global warming based upon a few years of temp records from cities around the world and changes in the Ross Ice Shelf..................and then the world went nuts about Global Warming while 8 years passed with NO rise in temperature followed by the current coldest spring in 4 decades. Perhaps the climate pattern IS about to change radically or perhaps this is is just the normal variation that has been occcurring for millennia. The attempt to blame it all on mankind and foist guilt for impending disaster onto the citizenry of the industrialized world is ill-founded and disingenuous. Honest science acknowledges a recurring pattern of climatic changes. Pretty stupid to assume this is all our doing when we weren't even a blip on the planet for some of the previous events... but useful for people with an existing agenda to manipulate people's behavior via 'important legislation' to "save the planet".

 

[Old Monkey]

I think Al Gore has done science a disservice by overstating the case for global warming. Everyone who blamed Katrina on human caused global warming did science a disservice. Still you make decisions about the future based on the best predictions available at a given time and err on the side of caution. The last two hurricane seasons were supposed to be huge. Those predictions were dead wrong. A lot of folks stocked up more emergency provisions as a result. Is that all bad? Certainly there is the "boy who cried wolf" aspect to worry about as you and Brian point out with your reminders about scientists not so very long ago causing a scare about an impending ice age. Personally I think there is a benefit to be had from reducing emissions even if global warming isn't happening. I wouldn't lie or exaggerate as a ploy to achieve that goal as it would backfire. I think a lot of the carbon off set stuff is just nuts and that planting trees willy nilly in third world countries is not a good answer. I do think we need to reduce world consumption of everything as it is unsupportable in the long run. To me it is not about saving the planet as much as our niche on the planet.

 

[Al Smith]

The earth it's self is constantly changing but so slowly we in our short life spans don't see it . I can remember the killer winters of the 50's and 60's and the constant rain in the 70's . The years of 88 and 89 were the hottest and dryest on record .

I can also remember the haze in the sky and polluted waters in streams and lakes during the 70's as well .A lot has been done to rectify that problem and for the better I might add .

Try as we might and should though no matter what we as a world population do we cannot change the forces of mother nature . What is or will be ,will be,simple as that .

 

[SkwerI]

The best way to reduce comsumption by humans is to reduce the number of humans. We're in the midst of a huge population explosion and every additional human has to eat something. We've overtaken the earth like ants on a candy bar.

Creating legislation to tax people for their consumption isn't going to fix anything. The suggested cures are worse than the disease.

 

[Old Monkey]

That maybe so.

The problem as I see it with the question "are we effecting the world's weather patterns?" is that the our oceans and atmosphere work as a buffer solution, absorbing what we do. Buffer solutions work until they reach a tipping point and then they don't work at all.