Tag Archives: Climate Change Examiner

Climate Change

Al Gore says climate change dissenters full of [expletive]

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Former Vice President Al Gore launched an attack against those that disagree with the manmade climate change theory saying their arguments were "Bulls--t!" (JD Lasica, http://socialmedia.biz)
Former Vice President Al Gore launched an attack against those that disagree with the manmade climate change theory saying their arguments were "Bulls--t!" (JD Lasica, http://socialmedia.biz)

The passion of Al Gore for the manmade climate change theory is unquestionable.  Since leaving public office he has become the self-appointed spokesman for the movement.  At a forum in Aspen last week the former vice president launched into a profanity filled tirade against those who disagree with him.

The Climate Change Examiner reports that at an event held by the Aspen Institute, Gore called “Bulls–t” to arguments that seek to refute the anthropogenic global warming theory.  Listen to the audio here.

“Gore said that just as the tobacco industry prevented health regulations, so too have corporate interests stopped the advancement of potentially job-killing rules such as Cap and Trade,” the Examiner writes.

More than that, Gore goes on to say:

The model they innovated in that effort was transported whole cloth into the climate debate. And some of the exact same people — by name, I can go down a list of their names — are involved in this. And so what do they do? They pay pseudo-scientists, to pretend to be scientists, to put out the message: “This climate thing, it’s nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn’t trap heat. It may be volcanoes.” Bulls–t! “It may be sun spots.” Bulls–t! “It’s not getting warmer.” Bulls–t!

And there are about 10 other memes that are out there, and when you go and talk to any audience about climate, you hear them washing back at you. The same crap, over and over and over again … There is no longer a shared reality on an issue like climate even though the very existence of our civilization is threatened. People have no idea! And yet our ability to actually come to a shared reality that emphasizes the best evidence … It’s no longer acceptable in mixed company, meaning bipartisan company, to use the goddamn word “climate.”

That is quite a mouthful from the former VP.

Head on over to the Climate Change Examiner for the complete story include audio of Gore’s rant.

Climate Change

Animated video depicts hypothetical global warming debate

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A YouTube video puts a humorous - but thought provoking - spin on the debate about manmade climate change. (YouTube / Battlefield315)
A YouTube video puts a humorous - but thought provoking - spin on the debate about manmade climate change. (YouTube / Battlefield315)

From the high-minded forums in the scientific community to the halls of Congress to main street America, manmade climate change is a hot topic (pun intended).  Some scientists would have us believe the debate is over, Congress uses the theory to impress new taxes on citizens, and Americans are left wondering what to believe. 

This week NOAA announced that 2010 tied as the warmest year on record and many immediately seized on it as proof of manmade climate change.  Despite many arguments to the contrary, it becomes difficult to have a rational discussion about the merits of these claims as both sides can become quite set in their beliefs. 

A new video, while humorous, portrays a hypothetical debate between a global warming alarmist and a denier and offers up some serious questions and doubts about the theory.  From former Vice President Al Gore’s role as global warming cheerleader to the revelation about the behavior of “climate scientists” seen in the wake of the Climategate scandal the video presents them all. 

Despite erroneous information continually being discovered in alarmists’ claims, many, like the alarmist in the movie, choose to turn a blind eye.  While humorous, the video does highlight many of the valid questions that are asked by those who have their doubts about manmade climate change. 

Skeptics of the anthropogenic global warming theory need to remember that while man may not be responsible for the overall warming seen in recent decades, as custodians of this planet we do shoulder some burden.  Rational actions to keep the planet clean, move us toward energy independence and ensure we aren’t causing damage need to be considered.

For more about climate change, head on over to the Climate Change Examiner.

Climatology

NOAA: 2010 ties as second warmest year on record

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NOAA temperature anomaly map showing warmer than average temperatures across much of the globe in 2010. (NOAA)
NOAA temperature anomaly map showing warmer than average temperatures across much of the globe in 2010. View more images in the slideshow below. (NOAA)

Data released by NOAA puts 2010 into the history books as tying with 2005 as the warmest year globally since 1880.  The newly released report is sure to fuel the ongoing climate change and global warming debate for the year to come. 

The National Climatic Data Center’s information shows that the combined global land and ocean temperatures in 2010 were 1.12° F (0.62° C) above the 20th century average.  This ties the year with 2005 as the warmest on record. 

Land surface temperatures globally were the warmest on record as a temperature anomaly of 1.8° F (1.0° C) was recorded.  The oceans fared better according to the NCDC with temperatures 0.88° F (0.49° C) above the 20th century average putting it in the books typing with as the third warmest on record. 

The United States separately was warm as well although not in record-setting form.  Warmer than average temperatures were recorded across much of the nation with the south being the exception.  NOAA said that temperatures are increasing at a rate of 0.12° F per decade. 

Continue reading NOAA: 2010 ties as second warmest year on record →

Climate Change

Al Gore decries press censorship of oil spill, blocks press from own events

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Al Gore laments a lack of press coverage of the Gulf oil spill disaster but bans the press from his own events. (Dan Spisak)
Al Gore laments a lack of press coverage of the Gulf oil spill disaster but bans the press from his own events. (Dan Spisak)

In a new blog posting on his website, former Vice President Al Gore said access by the press covering the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a ‘de facto form of censorship.’ Many however have been quick to seize on the fact that Gore himself bans press coverage of his own events.

The Nobel Laureate was writing a response to a report that a Times-Picayune photographer was not allowed to take photos of the expanding oil slick. Gore said, “This behavior is completely unacceptable. Access by reporters should be as unfettered as possible. This de facto form of censorship needs to stop.”

Bloggers and online news outlets were quick to seize on the apparent hypocrisy in Gore’s statement. The highly influential Drudge Report pointed to Gore’s posting followed by stories from 2008 and 2009 when the press was banned from covering the former vice president’s speeches.

There is more to this story including the errors that have been discovered in Gore’s books and movies and his recent personal life problems.  Get all the details from the Climate Change Examiner.

Climate Change

Celebrating Earth Day 2010 – Climate predictions then and now

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Are we approaching the end of times? On the first Earth Day in 1970 scientists, poiliticans and pundits gave mankind little hope for survival. That tactic continues today. (Discovery Channel)
Are we approaching the end of times? On the first Earth Day in 1970 scientists, poiliticans and pundits gave mankind little hope for survival. That tactic continues today. (Discovery Channel)

Today we celebrate that most auspicious occasion – Earth Day.  It is a day in which we can all ‘be green’, hold hands, sing Kumbaya and be one with Mother Earth. 

With the ongoing debate about manmade climate change, it affords us an opportunity to evaluate what “experts” were saying 40 years ago and what they are saying now.  

Many parallels between the two times can easily be drawn.  Over the top rhetoric and predictions were apparently as common in 1970 as they are today. 

The Climate Change Examiner has a great look back at some of the predictions made on the first Earth Day as well as some that are being made in current times.  Here is a brief excerpt – be sure to follow the link below to view the whole story.

Forty years ago Earth Day was founded as a way to give greater visibility to environmental concerns across the globe. The event is celebrated annually and while the focus has now shifted to one primarily on manmade climate change, just like in 1970, today we continue to hear dire warnings of man’s impending doom.

From that very first Earth Day, laying out a reasoned case to spur the public into action was not deemed adequate. Instead, the use of predictions of the end of times were used as a scare tactic.

The founder of Earth Day, Senator Gaylord Nelson was not shy about using hyperbole to drive home his belief of the dangers presented. He famously proclaimed that, “Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.”

It would appear that something miraculous occurred since that first Earth Day and today as the Earth is teeming with life just as it was then.

…

Questionable claims of impending doom continue

In the intervening time we can clearly see that these were nothing more than weak attempts to steer public opinion toward what was the ‘consensus’ at the time by scaring people into action. The names of the scientists and public policy ‘experts’ making the claims have changed in the past forty years but the tactic remains.

Will the seers of today like Gore, Hansen and Lovelock be any more accurate in their predictions than Ehrlich, Nelson or Gunter was in their day?

Check back in 40 years – If humankind is still here.

There's more to this story on Examiner.com!Be sure to read the complete story: Earth Day 2010 – Celebrating 40 years of outrageous predictions of doom

Climate Change

Arctic sea ice approaches normal levels

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Arctic sea ice grew to near average levels during the 2009 - 2010 season. (NASA) Watch the amazing animation video below.
Arctic sea ice grew to near average levels during the 2009 - 2010 season. (NASA) Watch the amazing animation video below.

A curious thing has happened over the 2009 – 2010 winter season – Arctic sea ice has rebounded to near normal levels. Long pointed to as a sign of the impact of global warming, the extent of sea ice had been shrinking in recent years.

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the maximum extent for Arctic sea ice was reached on March 31st. This is the latest date maximum extent has been reached since 1979 when satellites began measuring the Arctic Ice.

The center said that it was thought the sea ice was done growing around the beginning of March. However, late season winter storms over the Bering and Barents Seas allowed it to continue to enlarge. “By the end of March, total extent approached 1979 to 2000 average levels for this time of year,” the NSIDC said.

The NASA video below portrays the 2009 – 2010 sea ice season from start to finish.  For all the latest climate and global warming news, be sure to visit the Climate Change Examiner.

Climate Change

British Parliament investigation into Climategate largely clears scientists

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A British Parliament committee has largely absolved scientists involved in the Climategate email scandal but also accused them of a 'culture of withholding information.' (Examiner.com)
A British Parliament committee has largely absolved scientists involved in the Climategate email scandal but also accused them of a 'culture of withholding information.' (Examiner.com)

A formal inquiry by the British Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee into the Climategate email scandal has largely absolved the British scientists involved of the most serious allegations against them. The panel did however also conclude that there were issues that needed to be addressed in order to allay public doubts about the scientists’ work.

The panel took a cursory look into the accusations that have been leveled against the University Of East Anglia (UAE), its Climate Research Unit (CRU) and the head of CRU, Dr. Phil Jones. Only one day of hearings were held in the inquiry that was first announced in January. 

Among the issues the committee discussed were the charges of manipulation / suppression of data, UAE’s / CRU’s practices for information dissemination and its compliance with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

In a 63 page report (link above), the British MP’s outline the case against those involved and the conclusions they reached. For most critical issues including the charges of data manipulation that were brought about by emails discussing a ‘trick’ to ‘hide the decline’, the panel concluded Jones and his colleagues had not done anything untoward.

It further concluded that the climate data generated by CRU is in line with other datasets from NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). “We therefore conclude that there is independent verification, through the use of other methodologies and other sources of data, of the results and conclusions of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia,” the report said.

A statement accompanying the report, the panel said that, “The focus on Professor Jones and CRU has been largely misplaced.” It notes that Jones’ limiting of access to the underlying data of his conclusions about manmade climate change were ‘standard practice’ in climate science.

However, all was not perfect in the report at the panel slammed the scientists and university for their lack of action on Freedom of Information Act requests.  Get all the details at the Climate Change Examiner.

Climate Change

British government rebuked for global warming ads with false warning of extreme weather

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A British government ad campaign utilizing children nursery rhymes to warn about the dangers of climate change has been rebuked by a government watchdog. (DECC)
A British government ad campaign utilizing children nursery rhymes to warn about the dangers of climate change has been rebuked by a government watchdog. (DECC)

Scare tactic newspaper advertisements from Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have been banned by a government advertising watchdog agency. Two ads in a series which used child nursery rhymes to warn about the purported dangers of manmade climate change were found to have unsubstantiated claims in them.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) reviewed the ads after receiving more than 900 complaints from British citizens – the most complaints it received on any ad last year.

The two offending ads were based on the nursery rhymes of ‘Jack and Jill’ and ‘Rub a Dub Dub’ and warned of the effects of extreme weather, a claim which has long been disproven.

Without a background in climate science, the ASA relied on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) reports to determine the accuracy of the ads. In its conclusion, the ASA said the ads failed to meet code based on a lack of substantiation, truthfulness and their environmental claims.

It was the definitive statement that the severe weather events will happen that caused the ASA to take action as they are presented as if there is no doubt.

For more details on the advertisements, the claims in them that made them controversial and a slideshow of the ads, please visit the Climate Change Examiner.

Climate Change

Climate scientists to attempt to retaliate for recent setbacks

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The debate about manmade climate change continues with a group of climate scientists now seeking to launch a PR campaign against skeptics.
The debate about manmade climate change continues with a group of climate scientists now seeking to launch a PR campaign against skeptics.

Climate science and the purveyors of the manmade climate change theory have been sent reeling backwards over the past year. Errors discovered in their data and reporting, the Climategate email scandal and the shame it brought upon them, and continued cooling of the globe have set back their efforts. Now, a group of climate scientists is working to take the offensive against skeptics.

The Washington Times reports today that a number of scientists will start a new public relations campaign in the hopes of turning back the tide. Among the efforts by the scientists are to solicit a group of them to donate $1,000 each toward purchasing an ad in the New York Times.

One of the scientists, Dr. Stephen Schneider, Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change at Stanford University lamented the state of the debate and sought to call up fears of the hunt for communists. “I don’t want to see a repeat of McCarthyesque behavior and I’m already personally very dismayed by the horrible state of this topic, in which the political debate has almost no resemblance to the scientific debate.”

Schneider is most famous in many circles for making outrageous claims. In 1989 he told Discover magazine, “So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have.”

More recently, here on Examiner.com he told San Francisco Environmental Policy Examiner Thomas Fuller that any those who doubt the anthropogenic global warming theory would be “slaughtered in public debate.” When a number of notable scientists including Roger A. Pielke Sr. offered to debate him, Schneider quickly backpedaled.

For the complete story including to read what the infamous author of “The Population Bomb” had to say, please visit the Climate Change Examiner.

Climate Change

Al Gore reappears – Says errors in climate science are irrelevant

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In the wake of the Climategate email scandal, the failure at the climate summit and with revelations of errors in IPCC documents, Al Gore has been conspicuously absent - until now.
In the wake of the Climategate email scandal, the failure at the climate summit and with revelations of errors in IPCC documents, Al Gore has been conspicuously absent - until now.

Former Vice President Al Gore had been conspicuously absent from the public eye recently. Following on the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit and new revelations of errors in key climate science reports, the Nobel Laureate was nowhere to be found. On Sunday he returned with an op-ed in the New York Times discussing the ‘attacks’ on the manmade climate change theory.

As is the norm for his work, Gore as always takes the opportunity to use over-the-top language to push for action against what he describes as an “unimaginable calamity” that will be visited on the earth. He used the liberal ‘Old Gray Lady’ to discuss his thoughts on the errors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) work, the Climategate email scandal and took jabs at news organizations like FOX News.

In recent weeks numerous errors in the IPCC’s seminal AR4 report have been discovered. Statements of disappearing Himalayan glaciers, rain forests threatened by global warming, loss of mountain ice and more have been shown to be grossly exaggerated at best or patently false at worst. Further, dozens of citations in the work come from political and activist sources, not scientific research. All of this in what is supposed to be the ‘gold standard’ of research from which leaders are supposed to draw conclusions.

Gore only concedes two of the many errors – the one concerning Himalayan glaciers and another comical one about the Netherlands finding itself flooded. He says science will “never be completely free of mistakes” and says that “the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged.”

Few would argue that science is perfect in any area of study. However, many would simply expect that if drastic measures are to be taken to combat the purported threat of manmade climate change, the science should be sound before jumping in.

There's more to this story on Examiner.com!See what else the former vice president had to say including comments that allude to FOX News on the Climate Change Examiner.