September 2008 Archives

By Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. Los Angeles Times

Amid the energy crisis, Democrats are losing the high ground on the environment to a GOP that is pushing oil drilling.

As the election enters its endgame, Democrats and their environmental allies face a political challenge they could hardly have imagined just a few months ago. America's growing dependence on fossil fuels, once viewed as a Democratic trump card held alongside the Iraq war and the deflating economy, has become a lodestone instead. Republicans stole the energy issue from Democrats by proposing expanded drilling -- particularly lifting bans on offshore oil drilling -- to bring down gasoline prices. Whereas Barack Obama told Americans to properly inflate their tires, Republicans at their convention gleefully chanted "Drill, baby, drill!" Obama's point on conservation and efficiency was lost on an electorate eager for a solution to what they perceive as a supply crisis.

Paul Johnson, Forbes Magazine

August was one of the nastiest months I can remember: torrential rain; a hailstorm or two; cold, bitter winds; and mists. But we are accustomed to such weather in England. Lord Byron used to say that an English summer begins on July 31 and ends on Aug. 1. He called 1816 "the year without a summer." He spent it gazing across Lake Geneva, watching the storms, with 18-year-old Mary Shelley. The lightening flickering across the lake inspired her Frankenstein, the tale of the man-made monster galvanized into life by electricity.

This summer's atrocious weather tempted me to tease a Green whom I know. "Well, what about your weather theory now?" (One of the characteristics of Greens is that they know no history.) He replied: "Yes, this weather is unprecedented. England has never had such an August before. It's global warming, of course." That's the Greens' stock response to anything weather-related. Too much sun? "Global warming." Too little sun? "Global warming." Drought? "Global warming." Floods? "Global warming." Freezing cold? "Global warming."

I love it when nature rears it's ugly head and God shows us who actually controls the weather, Elmer's 2nd Law of Global Warming. And by the way the Northwest Passage has been open many times over the last century, that's why it's called the Northwest PASSAGE.

From Peter Alexander, TODAY correspondent

So, here we are. In the Arctic. Day 23. Good times!

Producer Paul Manson and I, along with cameraman Callan Griffiths and soundman Ben Adam, were sent here on assignment to report on climate change and the Arctic for an upcoming broadcast. The primary news peg -- and one reason for our visit -- is that for only the second time in recorded history the Northwest Passage is ice free, effectively clearing this shortcut between Europe and Asia.

Our intention was to stay on board for 10 days, shooting video and interviews. Mother Nature, apparently, had other plans. Inclement weather, along with an emergency search and rescue mission, has spoiled all five of our attempts to leave the ship. Getting stuck in the Arctic is not uncommon; getting stuck five times is like punishment.

Newsminer, Syun-Ichi Akasofu, Community Perspective

We still need to study nature’s contribution to trend

Recent studies by the Hadley Climate Research Center (UK), the Japan Meteorological Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of East Anglia (UK) and the University of Alabama Huntsville show clearly that the rising trend of global average temperature stopped in 2000-2001. Further, NASA data shows that warming in the southern hemisphere has stopped, and that ocean temperatures also have stopped rising.

The global average temperature had been rising until about 2000-2001. The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and many scientists hypothesize rising temperatures were mostly caused by the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide (CO2), and they predicted further temperature increases after 2000. It was natural to assume that CO2 was responsible for the rise, because CO2 molecules in the atmosphere tend to reflect back the infrared radiation to the ground, preventing cooling (the greenhouse effect) and also because CO2 concentrations have been rapidly increasing since 1946. But, this hypothesis on the cause of global warming is just one of several.

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Environment: The solar wind is slowing, but Al Gore is still spewing hot air. The Oscar winner is promoting civil disobedience to stop energy and economic growth as the first U.S. emissions cap-and-trade program begins.

Speaking before Bill Clinton's Global Initiative, junk science advocate Gore called on young people to take the law into their own hands because the climate, he claims, is a-changin'. He told the gathering in New York City that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis" and the time for action is now.

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration," Gore said to loud applause.

Peter N. Spotts, The Christian Science Monitor

With all the focus on human-triggered global warming, it may be hard to imagine that the world is riding a 50-million-year-long cooling trend.

But it is, and blame the trend on a continental-scale collision, say geophysicists Dennis Kent of Rutgers University and Giovanni Muttoni of the University of Milan in Italy.

Researchers say there is strong evidence that increases in atmospheric CO2 contributed to a warm spell 50 million years ago dubbed the Early Eocene climate optimum – the warmest period in 65 million years. But over the following 15 million years, deep sea temperatures fell by about 10.8 degrees F., reflecting a significant cooling at the surface. This cooling ultimately allowed the cycle of ice ages to emerge.

Drs. Kent and Muttoni have mined paleomagnetic and other data and suggest that atmospheric CO2 dropped because India collided with Eurasia, shutting down a productive, natural CO2 factory.

Some 120 million years ago, the subcontinent that is now India was migrating north from Antarctica. As it moved, it shoved the ocean crust that was ahead of it under an existing crustal plate. As long as this zone off the Eurasian coast was under water, bottom muck enriched by carbon from the biologically-rich ocean plunged under the plate. It got recycled as lava in volcanoes along a geological feature dubbed the Kohistan Arc, as well as in a vast lava-oozing formation called the Deccan Traps. The eruptions released the carbon as CO2, which helped warm the climate. But once India collided with Eurasia 50 million years ago, India rode over the top of the zone and shut off the process. This, plus changes in ocean circulation as continents rearranged themselves, contributed to the long chill, the researchers suggest.

The results appear in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By Elmer Beauregard

I know this is a Global Warming blog and not a financial blog, but it is hard to ignore what's going on in the markets, so I in my ignorance am going to put in my 2 cents.

In the old Testament every seven years the Israelites would cancel their debts with each other. It was called the Sabbatic year or Sabbath year.

Deuteronomy 15:1-2, NIV 1. At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. 2. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.

Maybe we should do this as a country and just cancel all debts? Hit the reboot button so to speak. After we do this maybe we should get rid of the Fed, which got us into this jam in the first place. Have everybody divide by ten. Then go back to the U.S Mint making our money like the Constitution says.

By Steve Gorman, Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The sun's winds are less blustery than they used to be, NASA said on Tuesday, revealing data from a solar probe that promises new insights about Earth's local star but poses few if any consequences for humans -- unless you're an astronaut.

The data show the solar wind, a steady stream of charged sub-atomic particles emitted by the sun and blowing at 1 million mph (1.6 million kph), has dwindled to its lowest level in at least 50 years, reducing its strength as a shield against potentially harmful galactic cosmic radiation.

Steve Watson, Infowars.net

Phantom warming still cited as NASA sounds alarm bells on greatly reduced solar activity

Unexpected snowfall and freezing temperatures in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa has been described by so called climate experts as a feature of global warming.

The country experienced its coldest night on record two nights ago — in the spring time.

The adverse weather has shocked and surprised many locals, with forecasters warning that worse conditions could follow.

The snow is part of a continuing pattern of cold snaps across the continent that has also seen unprecedented ice storms in Kenya, resulting in 4 inch deep hail covering the ground.

Watch an ITN news item on the snowfall:

wattsupwiththat

Arctic Sea Ice Melt Season Officially Over; ice up over 9% from last year

We have news from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). They say: The melt is over. And we’ve added 9.4% ice coverage from this time last year. Though it appears NSIDC is attempting to downplay this in their web page announcement today, one can safely say that despite irrational predictions seen earlier this year, we didn’t reach an “ice free north pole” nor a new record low for sea ice extent.

Here is the current sea ice extent graph from NSIDC as of today, notice the upturn, which has been adding ice now for 5 days:

Republicans call the Democratic plan a political sham. The measure's fate is unclear in the Senate.

By CARL HULSE, New York Times

WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday night approved a bill 236-189 that would ease a longstanding ban on offshore oil drilling and try to spur greater use of alternative fuels as Democrats and Republicans engaged in a bitter clash over America's energy future.

Under legislation assembled by Democrats after weeks of assaults by Republicans over offshore exploration, oil companies would lose some tax benefits, utilities would be required to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and a ban on developing fuel from Rocky Mountain shale would be lifted.

Susan Davis, Wall Street Journal

Running mates John McCain and Sarah Palin have touted their similarities on policy matters, but on one controversial issue, the two Republican candidates part ways.

McCain has long opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a protected wildlife reserve in Alaska, while Palin—like the majority of residents in her home state—support opening a portion of the reserve for oil exploration.

“I’m going to keep working on that one with him,” Palin told Charlie Gibson of ABC News, which scored a three-part interview series with the Republican vice presidential candidate.

“ANWR, of course, is a 2,000 acre swath of land in the middle of about a 20 million acre swath of land; 2,000 acres that we’re asking the feds to unlock so that there can be exploration and development,” she said. “We’ll agree to disagree but I’m gonna keep pushing that and I think eventually we’re all gonna come together on that one.”

Randall Hoven, American Thinker

The latest Old Farmer's Almanac predicts cooler temperatures not only next year, but for possibly the next half century. Via USA Today:

Based on the same time-honored, complex calculations it uses to predict weather, the Almanac hits the newsstands on Tuesday saying a study of solar activity and corresponding records on ocean temperatures and climate point to a cooler, not warmer, climate, for perhaps the next half century.

"We at the Almanac are among those who believe that sunspot cycles and their effects on oceans correlate with climate changes," writes meteorologist and climatologist Joseph D'Aleo. "Studying these and other factor suggests that cold, not warm, climate may be our future."

These predictions match those of Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, Merited Scientist of Russia and fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, remarkably well.

The latest data, obtained by Habibullah Abdusamatov, head of the Pulkovo Observatory space research laboratory, say that Earth has passed the peak of its warmer period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012. Real cold will come when solar activity reaches its minimum, by 2041, and will last for 50-60 years or even longer.

I think we can now say there is a consensus for Global Cooling. Although we can count on the deniers to persist in their Chicken Little ways.

By Roger Pielke, Climate Science

There was a news release by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer, entitled “Global warming’s toasty water connection to Gustav.” Among the statements in the text are

“Global warming has probably made Hurricane Gustav a bit stronger and wetter, some top scientists said Sunday, but the specific connection between climate change and stronger hurricanes remains an issue of debate.”

“Measurements of the energy pumped into the air from the warm waters — essentially fuel for hurricanes — has increased dramatically since the mid 1990s, mostly in the strongest of hurricanes, according to a soon-to-be published paper in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems by Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief at National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.”

“Warmer water makes the surface air warmer, which means it could contain more moisture. That means more hot moist air rises up the hurricane, serving as both fuel for the storm and extra rainfall coming back down, said Peter Webster, professor of atmospheric sciences at Georgia Tech.”

Both the article and the statements by the scientists, however, mislead the public into thinking there is a clear relationship between global warming and Atlantic hurricane activity. This is a gross oversimplification of hurricane dynamics. Hurricanes respond to their immediate environment, not a global average increase in heat!

Michael Asher, Daily Tech

Increase twice the size of Germany: "colder weather" to blame.

Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has indicated a dramatic increase in sea ice extent in the Arctic regions. The growth over the past year covers an area of 700,000 square kilometers: an amount twice the size the nation of Germany.

With the Arctic melting season over for 2008, ice cover will continue to increase until melting begins anew next spring.