by John Nielsen-Gammon/Climate Abyss/Feb. 2012
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Some things about carbon dioxide in the climate system are so firmly established and fundamentally important, you can use them as litmus tests to determine whether the person you are listening to is honest and knowledgeable. Note that somebody contradicting these facts may be dishonest or ignorant or both, but it’s usually not possible to tell which. And as can be inferred from a previous post, correctly assessing the reliability of your knowledge source is critical.
Fact #1: A small concentration of CO2 is a big deal.
Physics research over the last two centuries have given scientists and engineers the ability to calculate quite accurately the direct effect of CO2 on the exchange of radiation in the atmosphere. We know, for example, that doubling the concentration of CO2 from its preindustrial levels has about the same energy impact as cranking up the total energy output of the Sun by 1%, with a resulting increase of global surface temperature of 1.5-3 °C (if we’re lucky) or 3-6 °C (if we’re not lucky).
How can so little CO2 have a significant effect? The key is that it is absorbing and emitting infrared radiation at wavelengths most other gases don’t. In other words, it occupies a special niche in the electromagnetic spectrum that gases present in higher concentrations don’t fill very well. The same is true of all other Tyndall (greenhouse) gases of importance to the climate system.
Read more at Climate Abyss
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Bill Gates Sponsors ‘GeoEngineering’ a/k/a ‘Chemtrails’ To Combat ‘Climate Change’
by Cameron Wiltshire/disinfo.com via Guardian/Feb. 8, 2012
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John Vidal reports in the Guardian that Bill Gates and other wealthy individuals have funded a series of reports into the future use of technologies to geoengineer the climate:
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John Vidal reports in the Guardian that Bill Gates and other wealthy individuals have funded a series of reports into the future use of technologies to geoengineer the climate:
A small group of leading climate scientists, financially supported by billionaires including Bill Gates, are lobbying governments and international bodies to back experiments into manipulating the climate on a global scale to avoid catastrophic climate change.Read more at disinfo.com
The scientists, who advocate geoengineering methods such as spraying millions of tonnes of reflective particles of sulphur dioxide 30 miles above earth, argue that a “plan B” for climate change will be needed if the UN and politicians cannot agree to making the necessary cuts in greenhouse gases, and say the US government and others should pay for a major programme of international research.
When the Earth Gets Sick: Most Mass Extinctions Happened Slowly
by Good German/Disinfo.com via ScienceDaily/Jan. 7, 2012
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In geology as in cancer research, the silver bullet theory always gets the headlines and nearly always turns out to be wrong. For geologists who study mass extinctions, the silver bullet is a giant asteroid plunging to earth.But an asteroid is the prime suspect only in the most recent of five mass extinctions, said USC earth scientist David Bottjer. The cataclysm 65 million years ago wiped out the dinosaurs.
“The other four have not been resolvable to a rock falling out of the sky,” Bottjer said. For example, Bottjer and many others have published studies suggesting that the end-Permian extinction 250 million years ago happened in essence because “the earth got sick.”
Read more at Disinfo.com
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In geology as in cancer research, the silver bullet theory always gets the headlines and nearly always turns out to be wrong. For geologists who study mass extinctions, the silver bullet is a giant asteroid plunging to earth.But an asteroid is the prime suspect only in the most recent of five mass extinctions, said USC earth scientist David Bottjer. The cataclysm 65 million years ago wiped out the dinosaurs.
“The other four have not been resolvable to a rock falling out of the sky,” Bottjer said. For example, Bottjer and many others have published studies suggesting that the end-Permian extinction 250 million years ago happened in essence because “the earth got sick.”
Read more at Disinfo.com
Limits to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Imperative
Pandango: I'm not hearing scientists say that climate change can be "slowed" or "stopped" anymore. Have you noticed that? All I'm hearing is adaptation and preparation. And by the way, let's try and prevent the worse case scenarios from happening. Doesn't sound like a very bright future to me. But on a brighter note, we are no longer in a recession.
by William Y. Brown/Brookings Institute/Feb. 7, 2012
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These limits to mitigation deliver a clear message: It's past time to begin adapting to climate change with the same effort and specificity that communities invest in preparing for a coming hurricane or flood. Many involved in climate policy see this, but many other policymakers do not. We need to be ready for melting ice, rising sea level, floods, droughts, weather extremes, and changing, stressed ecology. We need zoning and other policies to stop people from moving into low-lying coastal cities and areas that will be more prone to flooding and drought. We need to breed and genetically engineer crops that will handle extremes. We need to anticipate where water shortages will arise and build needed infrastructure or shift how the land is used. We need to protect and manage ecosystems with a view to how they will change and move, preserving corridors for migration and dispersion. We need to establish and maintain a global bank for the DNA and viable tissue of all known species and new species as they are described, as a safety net against extinction. Most of all, we need to fasten our political will to action now. Who knows? If we accept the realities of adaptation, maybe the picture will be so vivid, ugly, and expensive that we'll address mitigation too.
Read more at Brookings Institute
by William Y. Brown/Brookings Institute/Feb. 7, 2012
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These limits to mitigation deliver a clear message: It's past time to begin adapting to climate change with the same effort and specificity that communities invest in preparing for a coming hurricane or flood. Many involved in climate policy see this, but many other policymakers do not. We need to be ready for melting ice, rising sea level, floods, droughts, weather extremes, and changing, stressed ecology. We need zoning and other policies to stop people from moving into low-lying coastal cities and areas that will be more prone to flooding and drought. We need to breed and genetically engineer crops that will handle extremes. We need to anticipate where water shortages will arise and build needed infrastructure or shift how the land is used. We need to protect and manage ecosystems with a view to how they will change and move, preserving corridors for migration and dispersion. We need to establish and maintain a global bank for the DNA and viable tissue of all known species and new species as they are described, as a safety net against extinction. Most of all, we need to fasten our political will to action now. Who knows? If we accept the realities of adaptation, maybe the picture will be so vivid, ugly, and expensive that we'll address mitigation too.
Read more at Brookings Institute
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
PolitiFact Debunks Republican Views of Global Warming 'Hoax' B.S.
EPA's endangerment finding based on outsourced science - PolitiFact explains the facts
IPCC is scandal ridden - NO, it's not. PolitiFact explains
Stolen hacked e-mail's of climate scientists debunk's the science behind climate change -
WRONG. PolitiFact explains
Scientists are doubting the theory that man is contributing to global warming. And the all too favorite by Republicans that global warming is a "hoax".
PolitiFact declared this statement to be in the running for the biggest lie of the year in 2011.
IPCC is scandal ridden - NO, it's not. PolitiFact explains
Stolen hacked e-mail's of climate scientists debunk's the science behind climate change -
WRONG. PolitiFact explains
Scientists are doubting the theory that man is contributing to global warming. And the all too favorite by Republicans that global warming is a "hoax".
PolitiFact declared this statement to be in the running for the biggest lie of the year in 2011.
Knoxville Republican says AIDS came from man having sex with a monkey then with other men
Pandango: I just can't make this stuff up. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
by PolitiFact/Jan. 26, 2012
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Of the many controversial claims state Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, made in an interview on satellite radio last week with a gay-rights advocate, none was more sensational than his assertion that AIDS in humans came from "one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men."
This came about 12 minutes into an interview that ostensibly was about a bill Campfield has championed declaring that only sexuality involving "natural human reproduction" can be addressed in the state’s K-8 public-school classrooms. Campfield calls it a "Don’t Teach Gay" bill, but it’s been more commonly called the "Don’t Say Gay" bill. Critics say it could open the door to allowing anti-gay bullying and harassment and potentially prevent teachers and administrators from helping students properly deal with sexuality issues.
We’re working on a separate article to post on Sunday that will cover many of the other claims made by Campfield, who also serves as Tennessee campaign co-director for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. This item will explore Campfield's specific claim about AIDS entering the human population because "one guy" had sex with a monkey and then had sex with men.
Here's the pertinent exchange for this fact check:
CAMPFIELD: Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community.
SIGNORILE: No, it did not. Do you know the history of AIDS?
CAMPFIELD: It was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men.
Read more at PolitiFact
by PolitiFact/Jan. 26, 2012
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Of the many controversial claims state Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, made in an interview on satellite radio last week with a gay-rights advocate, none was more sensational than his assertion that AIDS in humans came from "one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men."
This came about 12 minutes into an interview that ostensibly was about a bill Campfield has championed declaring that only sexuality involving "natural human reproduction" can be addressed in the state’s K-8 public-school classrooms. Campfield calls it a "Don’t Teach Gay" bill, but it’s been more commonly called the "Don’t Say Gay" bill. Critics say it could open the door to allowing anti-gay bullying and harassment and potentially prevent teachers and administrators from helping students properly deal with sexuality issues.
We’re working on a separate article to post on Sunday that will cover many of the other claims made by Campfield, who also serves as Tennessee campaign co-director for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. This item will explore Campfield's specific claim about AIDS entering the human population because "one guy" had sex with a monkey and then had sex with men.
Here's the pertinent exchange for this fact check:
CAMPFIELD: Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community.
SIGNORILE: No, it did not. Do you know the history of AIDS?
CAMPFIELD: It was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men.
Read more at PolitiFact
Santorum and Gingrich dismiss climate change, vow to dismantle the EPA
by Troy Hooper/The Colorado Independent/Feb. 6, 2012
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GOLDEN — A day before Colorado Republicans voice presidential preferences at the caucuses, Rick Santorum dismissed climate change as “a hoax” and advocated an energy plan heavy on fossil fuels.
“We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit not for the Earth’s benefit,” Santorum told an audience at the Colorado School of Mines where he was a guest speaker Monday at the Colorado Energy Summit.
“We are the intelligent beings that know how to manage things and through the course of science and discovery if we can be better stewards of this environment, then we should not let the vagaries of nature destroy what we have helped create,” Santorum said to applause from the conservative crowd.
The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania argued that science has been hijacked by politicians on the left, and that climate change is “an absolute travesty of scientific research that was motivated by those who, in my opinion, saw this as an opportunity to create a panic and a crisis for government to be able to step in and even more greatly control your life,” Santorum said.
Read more at The Colorado Independent
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GOLDEN — A day before Colorado Republicans voice presidential preferences at the caucuses, Rick Santorum dismissed climate change as “a hoax” and advocated an energy plan heavy on fossil fuels.
“We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit not for the Earth’s benefit,” Santorum told an audience at the Colorado School of Mines where he was a guest speaker Monday at the Colorado Energy Summit.
“We are the intelligent beings that know how to manage things and through the course of science and discovery if we can be better stewards of this environment, then we should not let the vagaries of nature destroy what we have helped create,” Santorum said to applause from the conservative crowd.
The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania argued that science has been hijacked by politicians on the left, and that climate change is “an absolute travesty of scientific research that was motivated by those who, in my opinion, saw this as an opportunity to create a panic and a crisis for government to be able to step in and even more greatly control your life,” Santorum said.
Read more at The Colorado Independent
PolitiFact Debunks Myths about President Obama
Pandango: Urban legends and lies about Obama's birth certificate, Kenyan citizenship and Muslim faith are all debunked by PolitiFact.
How the 'wind farms increase climate change' myth was born
by Leo Hickman/The Guardian/Feb. 7, 2012
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Such is the viral nature of information flow on the internet, we can sometimes see myths and memes developing before our very eyes. Just such an example has occurred over recent days with the rather irresistible news that wind farms can "increase climate change".
The article that really gave this idea a push online was published on Sunday evening on the Daily Mail's website. It was delivered with the headline: "Wind farms can actually INCREASE climate change by raising temperatures and causing downpours, warn academics."
Somewhat predictably, that headline quickly attracted attention and was being disseminated with particular gusto on climate sceptic sites such as Climate Depot and JunkScience. The news was also reported on Dallasblog.com ("Wind Farms Cause Global Warming, some Scientists say") and then on the Orange County Register website with the headline: "Another Global Warming Oops Moment." The article itself was clearly rejoicing in being able to ladle big dollops of schadenfreude:
More windmills to fight global warming = more global warming. You have to love it.
But if we reverse up a bit, we can actually see how this new myth was born. The Mail – which has a long track record of running stories hostile to wind farms, and more, widely, climate science - was clearly picking up on a story that day by Jonathan Leake in the Sunday Times.
Read more at The Guardian
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