redblueamerica.com

I wish that I had enough free time to correct the English of those who choose to display their ignorance in pontificating on the internet. You cannot spell; you do not understand the differences in words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings; and you cannot punctuate. If you had an intelligent message it is lost in your inability to express it.

How fatalistic, there is definitely nothing to do except wait for the end .....

What is this "scheme of natural progression" that you mention where can I get a copy? It could save us all a lot of effort figuring things out.

Bless you, Catherine. Glad to see that the brainwashing of our youth is not universal.

We talk about global warming and do nothing. Individuals wait for corporations and the government to do something. While the government and corporations wait on the individuals to tell them they have to do something. The are many ideas out there for solutions but must shrug them off and say "Those eco-nuts will have us not wearing deoderant and sleeping with our pets" But while the problem persists as a group we do nothing. Why, because we have no direction no path no hope for a solution. Worst case the world will continue after we are gone and God will have to try again to create man in his image. For as it stands he has come close to failure we can barely hold a candle to his perfect image and creation. Remember "Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand."

There have been many natural reasons cited for the observed increases in global temperature, and here they are:

1) Sunspots- sunspots occur largely in 11 year cycles, yet there is no 11-year cycle in temperature, and also no correlation to the larger warming that we are seeing today.

2) Cosmic rays are decreasing cloud cover which increases received sunlight- this has already been discounted, and clear night are also colder than cloudy nights, cancelling this effect.

3) Volcanoes- we have had Pinatubo and St. Helens, recently, but has there been a dramatic increase in eruptions over the past few decades? No.

4) Temperature recorders are being affected by urban sprawl. True, cities are getting bigger and closer to some of the testing locations, and with it higher temperatures. However, this effect still does not explain why glaciers are generally retreating worldwide.

5) It's the earth's orbit. True, our orbit does cycle every 20,000 years, causing our ice ages and warming periods, BUT these change occur over 1000s of years, not decades.

6) It is not related to carbon dioxide, as explained by the 800 year lag behind the 600,000-year CO2-temperature record. Taken without ocean-turnover cycles (extimated at 1500 years/cycle), this correlation (CO2 trends after temperature) still links a connection between CO2 and temperature. With humans adding 2 ppm CO2 every year for the past 8 years to the atmosphere, how do you think temperature will respond? It is very likely that it will also go up. CO2 levels are already up 36% beyond the normal maximum (280 ppm), something new might be in the works for us.

These are the most popular reasons given as to why we are not causing the current warming of the earth's atmosphere. CO2 is rising, and also accelerating as China's increases more of our production, taking on more energy, etc....

Why not take some caution with our changing of the atmospheric composition? As a scientist, when two things are being added together, and the results are not looking promising, one would at least slow down the addition, or stop altogether.

There are many ways in which we can at least slow down our experiment:

1) $(save) For "A/C" in the summer, open the windows at night and close them during the day

2) $(a little more) buy recycled products if you can find them- support recycling;

3) $(same, better quality) buy local products and produce- if they are not transported, that saves gasoline and also supports the local producer. Also, for grass-fed, local meat (the way it is supposed to be done), try Eat Wild .

4) $(free) composting turns garbage into fertilizer and prevents formation of methane, which is 23 times worse than carbon dioxide in terms of climate effect;

5) $(save) Unplug all adapters and turn off anything that is on 'Standby'- use powerstrips with a switch for multiple plugs, if needed;

6) $(20, save) use a rake instead of a leaf blower: they are quieter and provide exercise too;

7) $(20, save) use a clothesline instead of the dryer- many benefits: cleaner clothes, clothes last longer, don't get wrinkled, and each load saves 5 kWh off of your electric bill;

8) $(40, save) replace incandescents with CFLs- saves on A/C costs in summer too;

9) $(80, save) use a REEL lawnmower, which you push to cut the grass and requires no gasoline;

10) $(280/ton, even) if you have a wood burning stove, try Biobricks - pellets for a wood burning stove- these burn more cleanly with less ash and are easy to start.

11) $(3.80-4.00/Gal, a little more) try to use biodiesel for your furnace/boiler/car;

12) $(4000, save) get a solar hot water heater --fastest payback of all renewables;

13) $(10,000, save) replace drafty windows, if you can. If you cannot, use plastic ($10) or close the curtains at night ($0) during the winter; and

14) $(15,000, save) trade in the SUV for a car or even a hybrid vehicle, if you need a car- buy used to save money.

Start out with something small and try bigger items as you feel more and more comfortable with these changes.

#1 will work if your house is shaded.... but it depends on what you are willing to do. Start with the smaller items, and as you see how it works for you, move to larger items. My family has done all of it (#3 is happening now, and the veggies are much fresher, and #11 will happen when I can find some in my area). In doing all of these things, our electric bill is only 200-400 kWh/month, and our carbon footprint is less than half of the average American's use.

With the wood heating and the solar hot water, we have saved about $4000 in heating and hot water costs, burning only 1/4 tank (75 gallons) of oil! Now that is money in your pocket using renewable energy!

I feel that global warming started when they ripped a huge hole in the ozone layer and such when they send space shuttle`s, satillites and rockets though it. Hey I`ve got a great idea let`s ask the goverenment. YEA RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

An interesting perspective that I heard not too long ago - and one I thought very logical - suggested that global warming, if it is occuring, may not be the cause of glacier melting but rather because of it. This made perfect sense to me. The glaciers began melting and receeding how many millions of years ago? And it follows that an earth with a darkening surface would absorb more solar energy than one covered with reflective ice, doesn't it? In turn this process is being hastened with less and less reflective surface on our planet. Would or should we believe that this glacial recession should cease just to keep life conditions here at an optimum for us? I hardly think so. Nor do I believe that we are going to alter conditions effectively enough to save ourselves by cutting down our "greenhouse gas emissions".
This is hype generated by many that, you can rest assured, will find a way to profit from it while making life just that much more miserable for the rest of us. Certainly there is nothing wrong with knowledge gained in the area of becoming better stewards of our earth, but we have to remember that nature and the scheme of natural progression is what we will ultimately answer to.
Such fretting over this matter is none but useless panic. Nothing lasts forever, including the conditions of life on our earth. We might better be concentrating the bulk of our efforts on how to deal with the consequences of the inevitable than the mistaken belief that we can change the progression of such a dramatic natural phenomena. Relax. Probably the most relevent words to this one can read are out of Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata" ....."whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding just as it should".
And here's a good idea - pray for your children and grandchildren! It's gonna be a tough life for them. But even so - just as fleeting and temporary as our own.

~Jeff

This kind of argument drives me crazy. So we should all buy into the AGW concept because it would simply "be the best for the earth". What about the TRUTH? Global Warming is natural and NOT caused by human activity, period. The science IS showing this to be true regardless of how the Gore people try to shut it down. My only concern is that Bush and the Gore people pass too many laws to outlaw the Truth, or make the Truth irrelevant, before the Truth about the AGW hoax becomes clear to even the most ardent "warmer" person.

true they are melting but in other places in the world....THEY A GROWING!!!!!

this is one of the many, not-thoughtthrought arguments that the greens use so we will give Gore another nobel prize for crap and buy expensive cars and light bulbs.

water doesn't melt.

Sorry, you are totally misinformed. CO2 levels were much higher before several times, plus CO2 rise lags temperature rise by about 800 years (ice core data, look it up, like Gore's chart, he just neglected to mention this little correlation details)
G

The science is in. Everyone agrees. Climate change is a natural occurrence. Only the feeble-minded cling to the belief that they control the weather.

To all you lemmings following Al Gore and the UN into the Global-Unwarming Sea,Get a clue.Do some research other than watching the evening news.The Information and proof to refute all of it is out, there you just have to look a little farther than the nose on your face.

Natural cycles are caused by continental drift, orbital changes, solar activity,etc.

You are right anonymous there is a striking link between solar activity and temperatures at times, the problem is solar activity has been flat for thirty years and temperatures have steadilly climbed. This is why the IPCC is concerned even if you are not.

I have looked through the IPCC reports for the "smoking gun" graph: a plot of CO2 levels vs global temperature. It does not exit!!

Of course. This is a very complicated and not easily solved problem that has more depth to it than you'd think. There are supportive facts as well as non-supportive facts for each viewpoint, and you must consider each and every one of them with open-mindedness. I think a lot of people are so stubornnly sure that they are right that they decide to behave like little children, covering their ears and yelling "I'm not listening!" at the top of their lungs. They only want to hear the thoughts of themselves and people who agree with them. Come on people! Grow up!

the ipcc has as its mandate to only look at possible human effects on global warming. it does not and has never looked at the non-human effects. and it never will. read the ipcc organizational documentation. that's what makes this whole thing such a farce. man's effect on global warming is minimal if at all measureable. and co2 is not in any way shape or form tied in with climate change. to look at data over a couple of decades is disingenious at best. in the whole scheme of things ie. over thousands of years there is nothing unusual going on. it has made gore wealthy and unfortunately for the average "joe" will make life very much more expensive in the years to come.

I remember the big fear we were heading into an ice age in the 70's. We were also worried about the ozone layer? What happened to those fears? What will be the hot topic in 20 years? Follow the money trail for the alarmists...AL GORE makes HUGE profits from his speeches now and still uses more energy than alot of us nay sayers combined. Global warming is now climate change because global warming has such a stigma tied to it..... Gee what are the odds the SUN has alot to do with global warming?

While Global Warming alarmists like to point to a few examples they say shows Global Warming is man made they ignore other aspects.

First off the UN's IPCC is a joke. Have you ever researched the credentials of the "scientists" on the panel. There are very few climatologists and meteorologists on it. Why? Maybe because they know the truth and understand that climate is cyclic.

Lately the news has been portraying the "huge" ice that fell off in Antarctica. It is summer down there, so this is when that happens. Why are very few news sources reporting about how the Arctic ice has come back thicker and more vast than the last several years. Because it would poise questions for Global Warming Theory. Or they say you can't use one year of ice growth as proof that Global Warming isn't happening. However it is okay for them to use a few years (in the life of Earth) to show that the climate is warming.

Back 20 years ago in an Elementary Meteorology course the book had an article talking about how Sun storms affect the Earths Climate. Interesting considering there has been a heavy Sun storm activity over the last few years. But Al Gore would say that we caused that to!

The Global Warming group got hit hard a few weeks ago for using a scene about polar bears and the thin ice up North. The lady that took the video and/or pictures said that it was during the summer months anyway. She did not know how they got it. Of course Al Gore and the An Inconvenient "truth" group had to doctor it by showing an animation of a polar bear floating off on a small piece of ice. How touching!

The evidence that CO2 causes global warming and climate change lies within the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) wich is the organization established by the United Nations to try and mitigate global climate change. The view of the IPCC is that humans do cause global climate change, after many years of unbiased research.

"With any luck we are in a global warming phase which will put off the next ice age!"

I can just see this as poster on every Shell gas pump - with smiling 1950's style family sunning behind their white picket fence. Get real.

With any luck we are in a global warming phase which will put off the next ice age!

Surely this is more than a yes/no question?