Can We Talk About This? Climate

fileId:3096224744042046;size:inter; By Marty SaloÂ

News Correspondent

I know, I know, we can'tjust look at the most recent data and draw any conclusions about long term trends... Â

At the same time, This appears to be what Gore tried to do in the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." Â

It seems that Chicken Little has been proclaiming that the sky is falling since at least the third century of the Common Era (after the Year of our Lord, after Christ was born) with people predicting the imminent return of the Messiah.

In the old days, people were called snake-oil salesmen, or something similar, but now with technology, and the "magic" of Microsift Powerpoint, Al Gore can assemble facts that seem persuasive to his particular argument, and with an amplifier, proclaim to many people that yes, this time, the sky really is falling, and it is our fault.Â

Marty Salo, News Correspondent:

Can We Talk About This?, published every day to Gather Essentials: News is about current news.

Marty is 35 years old and lives in Sunny Tampa, FL.

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Average US temperature in February 2007 was 1.8 F cooler then 20th century average.
Â	Posted by Names Ash Housewares On 03/08/2007 3:48:46 PM PST Â· 27 replies Â· 361+ views NOAA ^ \| NOAA UNITED STATES Climate Summary February 2007 The average temperature in February 2007 was 32.9 F. This was -1.8 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 34th coolest February in 113 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. 1.56 inches of precipitation fell in February. This was -0.46 inches less than the 1901-2000 average, the 16th driest such month on record. The precipitation trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.00 inches per decade.

Comments: 3

Chris Wiegard Mar 8, 2007, 9:22pm UTC

If you understand that you can't legitimately look at data from a single month on a portion of a single continent and generalize a climate trend for the entire planet, then why did you attempt to do just that?

Al Gore is a former politician, fairly well educated and intellectually active compared to our current denizen of the White House, but not a career climatologist. Do not focus on All Gore. Too many people are doing just that, and using his high family electricity bills to argue that global warming is imaginary. It is unfortunately a real phenomenon. Focus instead on the IPCC report issued by hundreds of the leading scientists that predicts a planet wide temperature increase of several degrees over the course of this century.

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Marty S. Mar 8, 2007, 9:58pm UTC

The IPCC report was 7 - 15 degree (centigrade) hike in Global temperatures, and then it was revised downward, to I believe it was 3-7 degree Centigrade increase over the next 100 years. Everyone is looking at the tail of the dragon and trying to extrapolate how much fire the dragon can breathe from observing the tail.

The IPCC isn't comprised of mainly climatologists, or paleotologists, or geologists, but rather the loose term of scientist.

There was a possible warm period during the 1930's, then a cooling of the earth in the 1940's through the 1970's. Now we will be marching inexorably toward Global Warming, unless the Yellowstone caldera erupts, or a meteor hits with such an impact, or someone somewhere does something with nuclear weapons.

If a neighbor star goes supernova, the atmosphere will be ripped from the earth.

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Visionaerie B. Mar 9, 2007, 12:35am UTC

Yes, that old "we're experts -- trust us!" just doesn't hold up when you look at the facts. Many years ago, an economist named Julian Simon offered a monetary prize to anyone who could point out a price rise in basic resources (coal, oil, etc.). But no one ever could. The earth has been changing for thousands if not millions of years; man definitely has an impact, but it's not clear-cut what it is. That being said, we should certainly endeavor to take better care of this planet. But private property is still a better way to do that, because public property will inevitably be overused and wasted. When Clinton was president, his administration gobbled up huge tracts of land out west. Then, there were numerous wildfires out there. So the best prescription for "earth care" is to use our freedom and technology in a responsible way, brilliantly adapt to conditions, and don't panic! The Algorvians will always want higher taxes to fund their junk science, so just tell them no. Send them back to the minor leagues, and thanks for posting this!

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Can We Talk About This? Climate

Comments: 3

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