The end of “Global Warming” as we knew it? Let’s hope so!

This LINK will take you to a site that lists a HUGE number of the emails that have torn the curtain to the temple for the religion of Global Warming. 

Hopefully these emails will, in time, also blow away the holier-than-thou standing of the movement’s high priest AlGore.

For those who thought Cash for Clunkers was a good idea…

This article is an opinion piece from the WSJ, but it also cites studies and research from respected institutes and academia.  The conclusions found in this article come closer to the truth than anything you will hear out of the Obama administration, or Congress. 

And these the same same folks who are rationalizing all sorts of savings for the U.S. economy from remaking the health care system.  Yeah, right!

HT:  Challies

An Earth Day Confession

Yesterday, I posted an article, wherein I discussed all the things I did NOT do on Earth Day.  As I noted, all of these were evidence of my attempt to “tread lightly” on our planet. 

While I stand by each and every one of those examples, I have simply been wracked with guilt at how prideful those claims were.  While they were all true, I confess that I DID do some things that Al Gore, and others, would say will serve to shorten the lifespan of our dear planet Earth. 

Scripture tells us to confess our sins to one another (James 5: 16), so I hope that this medium will serve that purpose.  Here goes.  On Earth Day, I did the following:

• I had to attend a meeting that was held about 50 miles from where I live.  I decided that participating via conference call was really not practical since it was a lunch meeting.  Maybe someone in the future will figure out how to do a telecommuting lunch, but for now, it seems like it won’t work.  I know that this will sound like I am making excuses, but I live in the country, so there is no public transportation.  And truthfully, I really never gave much thought to either walking or bicycling the 100 miles round-trip.  (I know, selfish.)  So, I concluded that driving was my best, (I know it was not a good one, but it was the best) option.  If it is any consolation, I did take my wife’s hybrid automobile instead of my gigantic environment destroying pick-up truck.
• During the afternoon of Earth Day, I began to sense that sometime before the end of the day, my wife and I would get hungry.  You know where this is going, so I’ll just get right to the point.  I prepared a meal that required, sorry, the use of energy.  The meal that I prepared included ingredients that people generally regard as not healthy when eaten raw, so I cooked them, using both, (I feel terrible about this) propane gas and electricity.
• On Wednesday evening, I’m going to guess it was around 8:30 or so, it got dark.  In fact, it was dark enough that we really could not see very well without the use of (yikes) electric lights.  So, I turned a few on.  Okay, maybe it was more than a few.  But I promise, our house could probably not be seen from outer space like the Las Vegas Strip or anything.  Besides, I was finding that reading in the dark was really not very productive, but I am willing to learn how this can be accomplished if anyone knows a trick that might help.
• Perhaps this one is THE most scandalous.  I turned on the television because I HAD to find out who the two contestants were that were eliminated from American Idol.  In the event you were more respectful of The Earth and did not have your television turned on, those eliminated were Lil and Anoop.
• Finally (okay there are probably more offenses, but this will be all for now) of all the days this week, I thoughtlessly, no, I’ll correct that and say it was done with a callous indifference, I picked Earth Day to re-charge my cell phone.  It was low on charge, and without even a second thought, I plugged it in.  I know you will be relieved that I unplugged the charger when it was not in use because I hear that the polar ice caps are melting because people leave their chargers plugged in when not in use.  If this shameful practice describes YOU, repent and unplug!  For the record, because I DO unplug, I did NOT cause what is seen in that picture above.  So there!

My celebration of all-things-Earth

Yesterday was Earth Day.  So, as a show of support for The Earth, with all of its sensitivities, and vulnerabilities, I decided to stand in agreement with Earthophiles, that we need The Earth and that if we did not have it, we would probably miss it.  (I’m just sayin’.)

If you listen to the really fanatical lovers of The Earth, essentially anything we do, has a negative impact on The Earth, so I chose to celebrate all-things-Earth by NOT doing certain things that would otherwise have an impact on The Earth.  I believe the favored term by the creation lovers is “treading lightly.”

Now mind you, I never have, and never would do any of these things, but for the sake of The Earth, I consciously and intentionally chose to NOT do them on The Earth’s special day.  So, here is my list of things I did NOT do, so as to say that I “tread lightly” on The Earth.

• I did not drain the 15 quarts of oil in my diesel guzzling pick-up truck, directly onto the ground.  In fact I did not drain my oil at all.
• I did not vent the ozone depleting refrigeration gases out of my refrigerators, automobile air-conditioners, or the air-conditioner in my home.
• I did not make any unnecessary trips in an automobile just for the heck of it, essentially driving to some point-unknown, for some unknown reason.
• I did not deflate the tires on our vehicles, which would have negatively impacted our gas mileage.
• I did not purchase any cattle or swine to be kept at our ranch.  As you probably know, these livestock are prone to flatulence, and those emissions are harmful to the environment.   At least that’s what the nut jobs say.
• I did not post a blog article yesterday.  While the energy I saved, is probably immeasurable, there must surely be some theoretical savings in the consumption of energy, on my end, out in cyberspace, and on your end as well, you know, when you read a blog.  I mean, seriously, I used NO pixels yesterday on this site.
• I did not turn all the lights on in my home and leave them on all day, especially during the middle of the day when we don’t need lights, or in rooms where we were not present.  What’s more (and I think you’ll find this pretty much over-the-top), we turned the lights off at my house the night before Earth Day, meaning they were still off when we woke up on The Earth’s special day.  I know you’ll think that’s enough, but wait, there’s more.  We turned the lights OFF when we went to bed last night and ended Earth Day in the dark.

You’re welcome, Earth.

Finally a “green” initiative I can live with (figuratively, that is).

As anyone who is a regular reader of this blog knows, I am not overly impressed with the breathless claims from special interest groups, that we have already gone off the cliff leading to environmental disaster, or that man is the ultimate cause of global warming.  (No you are not getting off the hook by using the term “climate change” folks…you guys picked the term”global warming” and when the statistics failed to support your claims, you changed the moniker.)

As I have noted in other posts, while I am not impressed with the usual over-reactions to environmental discussions, I do believe that as stewards of the planet we live on, we should do reasonable things to protect and even improve the environment, especially when they provide REAL benefits, and have the potential to save money.  This Bloomberg.com article discusses some ideas that appear to have legitimate environmental merit.

Arrangements for my ”disposal” have already been made and paid for.  Cremation is my choice, and whenever that day comes, I am all in favor of it being done as energy efficiently as is technologically possible.  Why wouldn’t I be?  And for those of you who prefer to be a “land owner” during your pre-resurrection rest, there are now ”greener” options that you should consider.

I may not be particularly “green” in life, but I will be “green” in death.  Now that is environmentalism I can “live with“, or not, if you know what I mean.

Some good news for fans of natural peril.

With the year drawing to a close in a matter of a couple of days, we will all experience, although at a level hardly detectable, proof of yet another natural peril.  Life, such as it is, with the threats flowing from Global Warming and other natural disasters in the making, has just become more difficult.  You see, at 23:59:60 PM Wednesday, December 31, 2008, one second will be added to the cesium atomic clocks around the world.  It is being called a Leap Second. 

This is being done in response to the reality that (perhaps you should be seated when you read or hear this) the earth’s daily rotation is slowing.  In fact, in the 34 years between 1972 and 2006, the earth’s rotation, when compared to the atomic clocks, slowed by 23 seconds.  Did you stop to consider that?  23 seconds!  And now, only 3 years later, we are having to add yet another second.

With various other imagined global crises somewhat in doubt, I suppose this must be a real blessing for those who see a calamity under every rock and behind every tree.  This is REAL.  The earth is slowing down!!!  It will take someone with far more creativity than I possess to imagine the dire implications of this new peril.  I hope Al Gore is aware of this. 

Perhaps Barack Hussein Obama will have a solution.  Just as he plans to create “green jobs” in response to Global Warming, maybe there are new ”slower jobs” that will not only be a natural response to a slower rotating earth, but will also serve to boost the economy and maybe even save the planet.  Let’s do hope so.

Read more about the Leap Second at the U.S. Naval Observatory website.

This troubling scene reported in Texas.

It will not even “officially” be winter for a little over a week.  Yet, we experienced our first official snowfall in south, central and southeast Texas earlier this week.  There are strings of years that can be put together when there is NO snowfall in these parts of the state and for it to have happened in the first half of December is really remarkable.

Out in the Hill Country, we got a nice dusting that stuck to the ground for probably 24 hours in certain shaded area around our home.  As some of my readers are former temporary residents of College Station, they got a significant amount of snow according to a client of ours, who travelled through it to come to our place of business.  Houston received snow, and even NOLA, New Orleans, LA received snow on Thursday morning.

All that I can say (cynically I might add) is thank goodness for Global Warming.  When I was younger, I had considered several employment opportunities that would have taken me and my family to northern regions, but the winter weather simply had no appeal to me.  To have to consider the possibility of enduring that sort of climate down here in Texas is almost too much to bear.  The thought of having to buy a snow shovel and snow tires and special wardrobe, I just can’t handle that.  And this week’s weather event is a reminder of the bullet we have dodged, thanks perhaps to Global Warming.

HT: my DAD for the cartoon

Global (sort of) Warming

Last week, Politico had a brief but interesting article highlighting ”The Gore Effect.”  Perhaps embarrassing happenings like this are among the reasons why Gore’s disciples are using the term “Climate Change,” rather than Global Warming.

Tell me again how we’re responsible?

The subject of global warming (or climate change as its fear mongering proponents now call it since temperatures are so stubbornly unwilling to consistently rise) is a divisive subject.  It has become terribly politicized.  It is a cause celebre for the political left.  And global warming’s chief proponents are so off-putting to people who are even slightly to their right politically, that we have a difficult time hearing anything they say.  My case in point…AlGore, literally screams about global warming on many occasions, and I simply can’t hear him.

A meteorologist from a local television station mentioned this week that there had been a reduction in sunspots over the last couple of years, which he said may account for why there has been a “growing” of ice in the arctic and antarctic regions of the world.  I did some checking on this and guess what, he’s right.  Here are some charts that show historical incidence of sunspots.  Click on the graph to enlarge.  [Source:  N.A.S.A.]

Then, I found this chart that supports the idea that variations in solar radiation (read sunspots) affects global temperatures.  More sunspots/radiation, warmer temps, and vice versa.  But they also suggest that volcanic activity or lack thereof, is also a contributor to variations in global temperatures.  Click on the graph to enlarge.  [Source: Harris-Mann Climatology]

I think this is interesting stuff.

But wait!  I thought that global warming was caused by man?  That’s what we’ve been told.  Isn’t it our dependence on fossil fuels for extravagances like modern transportation and energy to produce goods.  I thought man was destroying the planet with his carelessness, inflexibility and indifference.  After all, it must surely have been all the automobile emissions and and smoke from factories that were the cause of the spike in temperatures back in 1100 B.C.  And the reputation for utter ruthlessness of the Vikings back in 1300 A.D. is well deserved considering the carbon footprint they left behind with all of their internal combustion engines.

This changes everything.  When temperature fluctuations boil down to matters that seem slightly beyond our control like the sun and geothermal and seismic activity, what are we to make of the doom saying of the left-leaning political elitists and Hollywood intellectuals?

Like a broken clock that tells the correct time twice a day, climate activists are right from time-to-time if you limit the discussion to temperatures alone.  To the extent that we find ourselves in one of those periods where sunspots are active and we have few or no volcanoes, they can correctly point to an increase in global temperatures.  And the good news for their credibility is, if they can time it just right, they can jump on the global cooling bandwagon because that period will also come.  Then rather than worrying about rolling up our pant legs in the heartland due to rising sea levels caused by the melting of arctic ice, they can convince us to begin wringing our hands that all the water on the planet will be caught up in ice, and ports like Houston and San Francisco will be miles from the ocean, as sealevels decrease. 

The problem for the global warming fanatics is that they are jousting with the wrong windmill.  I believe the term is quixotic.  Sure, mankind can and should do things to protect and preserve our environment.  I support well conceived and thoughtful initiatives that can make a real difference.  And I agree we should reduce our consumtion of oil, and especially our dependence on foriegn sources.  But as I have said elsewhere at this blog, these are for ecomonic and national security reasons. 

Sancho, tell them to saddle up and find a new cause.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

(Answer:  No not really!)

As regular readers of this blog know, I am highly skeptical of current notions that mankind is in the process of systematically destroying planet Earth.  That said, readers should also know that I AM supportive of efforts to conserve natural resources, and to minimize avoidable harm to air and water, and that I am in favor of rational and reasonable efforts to reduce energy consumption, although my primary motivation here is NOT environmental, but rather for economic and national security reasons. 

Furthermore, I am not overly concerned that we are depleting sources of oil and other fossil fuels nor am I convinced that our use of fossil fuels is the conclusive cause of so-called “global warming.”  And I am absolutely resistant to release those who (in some cases) militantly waved the banner of “global warming” to now conveniently refer to it as “climate change” when they embarrassingly find themselves bumping up against evidence that seems to discredit their claims of environmental apocalypse from rising temperatures.

Such has been the case with an NBC Today show crew which was producing a story about the disappearance of ice in the arctic.  Apparently, for the second time in recorded history, the Northwest Passage was found to be free from ice.  However, in the course of filming for the story, the crew became detained well beyond the time they had planned on filming. 

And what do you ask were they detained by?  Something that might be described as arctic weather!  Imagine that!  They probably hoped to report from the arctic in shorts and Hawaiian shirts due to the balmy conditions caused by global warming.  But oops!  Not so much. 

Read more about this “inconvenient truth”  here.

HT: Challies.com