Paul Daugherty: Global Warming

Friday, March 07, 2008

Global Warming

Getting ready to deal with several inches of it. Think Ozone Man could wave his Nobel Prize at the Warming covering my driveway?

23 Comments:

at 11:22 AM

Anonymous said...

See "Calm Sun, Cold Earth" here:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=/Commentary/archive/200802/COM20080218a.html

at 11:28 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul- great comment, ozone man would blame the snow on global warming

Interesting article too

at 11:36 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul,

I think you have been in Cincinnati for far too long. The insular, simple-mindedness is rubbing off on you. Join the rest of us - look around the world rather than outside your window for a change.

at 11:55 AM

Anonymous said...

Owl Gore has always been a fraud.
But at least that internet thing he invented has really caught on.
Do you think he gets any residuals?

at 12:22 PM

Anonymous said...

Pretty flippant post, Paul. Have you no concern for the melting polar ice caps?

at 12:28 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul,

You're smarter than this. Global warming is creating more violent weather cycles. I wish these jokes would stop.

Thanks,
Anonymous

at 12:37 PM

CDH said...

Doc,

This is typical "Cincinnati-ian:" mindset...it's the entire "look, why doesn't everyone agree with how I see it and how's it's always been." It's like I am listening to 700 WLW, seriously.

One freak snowstorm and one long winter doesn't stop all of Greenland and most of the Antartic from melting into the sea you moron.

Stick to sports and leave climatology, geogology and all offended earth sciencs to the experts.

What's next, are you gonna tell me the Creation Museum has a point?

at 1:01 PM

Paul Daugherty said...

I'm concerned they're not melting fast enough. I have a condo in Columbia, SC, I really was hoping would be beachfront soon

at 1:19 PM

Anonymous said...

The Sun Also Sets
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY |

http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=287279412587175

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV — the sun.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.

To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.

And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.

Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.

Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.

Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.

This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.

Tapping reports no change in the sun's magnetic field so far this cycle and warns that if the sun remains quiet for another year or two, it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.

Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." But he and his colleagues need better equipment.

In Canada, where radio-telescopic monitoring of the sun has been conducted since the end of World War II, a new instrument, the next-generation solar flux monitor, could measure the sun's emissions more rapidly and accurately.

As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun.

For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.

R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales."

Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."

Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."

"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."

In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov made some waves — and not a few enemies in the global warming "community" — by predicting that the sun would reach a peak of activity about three years from now, to be accompanied by "dramatic changes" in temperatures.

A Hoover Institution Study a few years back examined historical data and came to a similar conclusion.

"The effects of solar activity and volcanoes are impossible to miss. Temperatures fluctuated exactly as expected, and the pattern was so clear that, statistically, the odds of the correlation existing by chance were one in 100," according to Hoover fellow Bruce Berkowitz.

The study says that "try as we might, we simply could not find any relationship between industrial activity, energy consumption and changes in global temperatures."

The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."

But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance.

at 1:32 PM

Anonymous said...

Isn't it interesting that folks who disagree with you Doc imply that your mind is shallow. How large can their mind actually be when they call someone a moron who doesn't agree with them. Al Gore said it and CNN reported it so it must be true. Develop a since of humor folks, you'll live longer.

at 2:59 PM

CDH said...

Gee, another Cincinnati conservative idealogical argument: "CNN and Al Gore are evil and all things I think are right." Is this Mike McConnell posting this anonymously?

Can someone tell me exactly why reducing greenhouse gases, reducing direct pollution run off into our own fresh water sources, reducing the use of pesticides on plants that leech into said water sources and our own food supply and trying to manage our natural resources without the negative impact of billions of pounds of our own pollution choking us to death for most of June, July and August is some how a bad thing?

I've never heard anyone against the premise of global warming say, "you know, I don't believe that but I agree we need to do more now to control the obvious points of pollution and contamination we bring to the planet." You know why they don't say that, because they don't think there is a problem to have.

But look around...there is more plastic in the ocean RIGHT NOW, from industrial runoff and human garbage than there is PLANKTON. Look it up. No, that's not global warming but the same people who deny global warming and laugh at Al Gore look at 2 trillion pounds of plastic in the ocean and say, "oh well, whatcha gonna do?"

Whether it's the sun or too many Ford Explorers or coal or cars or whatever, doesn't our ability to control and manage all our natural resources in a better way mean that we also should?

Or do we just do what everyone in Cincinnati thinks...laugh it off, stop paying attention, light up another cigarette (and toss the butt out my car window cause what do I care...it ain't my problem) and blame that lame liberal media for creating a stir where there is nothing to see?

Sure, it's all the sun's fault. There I feel better already. It doesn't matter what every great scientific mind on the planet thinks...it doesn't matter what all industrialized countries with a clue agree on...it doesn't matter that even many staunch republican naysayers are "warming" to the idea that there actually might be a problem...as long as the Investor's Business Daily has the story and can blame the sun, that works for me.

Now let's get mine some more coal and burn some more oil and pour the rest out to sea cause we can't control all this stuff anyway.

Look, I think the fault lies in those that deny there is anything to worry about...or choose to blame things we simply can't control.

Stupid is as stupid does Forrest. My momma taught me that.

See what you get when you play around with a lede for a blog Doc?

at 3:13 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul, In the interest of "fair and balanced" coverage I expect an homage to all the global warming enthusiasts next summer when it's over a 100 degrees and we're in the midst of a drought.

Oh, and for 1:32, let's see, George Bush said Iraq had stock piles of WMDs at the ready and Fox News reported it so it must've been tru. . . . oh, I guess that didn't quite work out for you now did it. (See, I've got a sense of humor. Do you?)

at 3:32 PM

Anonymous said...

Right on, P.D. I live in Chicago. Try telling anyone here about Global Warming after this past winter. There's more truth to Big Foot than there is to global warming.

at 4:24 PM

Paul Daugherty said...

hey, 259... sure do. I get a guy who's a walking greenhouse gas.

at 4:25 PM

Paul Daugherty said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

at 4:39 PM

Anonymous said...

One big snow and you think you've got it rough? Wow - you must have a pretty good life. In southern Wisconsin we've had about 90 inches for the season, well beyond the previous all-time record. Come shovel my driveway for some exercise, Paul - if you're strong enough to heave the stuff over the five-foot piles already surrounding it. I'll even buy your six-pack of Keystone Light for you when you're done - if you can finish.

In other words, count your blessings. ...

at 4:48 PM

Anonymous said...

There are arguments to both sides of the story.

The planet Mars has been getting warmer in direct relation to the Earth. Not much man-made emissions there, but for some reason it is warming as well.

Solar activity has been higher for the last several decades, but this past 3-4 months it has dropped off causing a cooler than normal winter in most places.

Some parts of the polar icecap have been melting, but other parts have been gaining in ice.

On the other side, added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been proven to cause temperatures to increase.

Computer models have shown if emissions get too high, there might be dramatically bad effects.

What does it all mean ? It means scientists are guessing, just like everybody else. As they get more and more data, eventually they'll figure it out. But until they do, try to keep things as 'natural' as possible without destroying economies or putting masses of people out of work.

Chuck in Cincinnati

at 8:17 PM

Anonymous said...

My original post ("Have you no concern for the melting polar ice caps?") was an intended joke cause I don't understand why anyone cares about the Ice Caps.

Would one of you experts here please refer me to a website/scientific study that compares effect of "carbon emissions" versus "sunspots/solar winds" effect on temperatures? I won't be holding my breath.

And to the people that say, "reduction can only be a good thing", I say, "You're absolutely correct!". But like everything in life, there's a cost/benefit decision to be made. You want to pay a huge cost for a "TBD" benefit. I don't.

Sorry to vent but like with Ethanol or Iraq, I hate to see us go down an expensive path we don't really understand.

at 8:18 PM

Anonymous said...

at 12:17 AM

Anonymous said...

sure is easy to push the buttons of CDH, don't you think? I read every one of these posts and I'm still trying to find where anyone called cnn or Al Gore evil. I would say, not everyone agrees with the way CDH sees things and CDH seems to have a big problem with that. To me, that seems to solidify what anon 1:32 was really saying. bring it on CDH, call us some more names, release some more gas!!!!

at 9:45 AM

Unknown said...

2:59 & CDH,

Every 40 minutes the sun releases more energy ON EARTH than we consume here on earth in AN ENTIRE YEAR.

That fact alone tells the entire story.

If the sun has cycles, then they are far more likely to be reflected on earth than some miniscule energy impact caused by anything else.

We could take every one of the 6 billion human beings on earth, place them on about a fifth of an acre and in square miles use up only the land mass of the United States from the Rockies to the east coast with room for roads and sewers.

It's a fact. Not another single soul on the entire planet other than there. That gives some idea how big the human footprint is.

The doom-and-gloom crowd have some folks totally spooked. But, it's a whole lot more in tune with our training to be negative and depressed than positive and hopeful.

at 9:10 PM

Anonymous said...

Volcanos have been identified as a very significant CO2 source. Couldn't we just plug or swamp them and be done with it?

at 3:03 PM

Anonymous said...

Doc. You know no one sells books, or makes movies with titles like "Everything Is Great Don't Worry!". It's always the sky is falling, the ice caps are melting, yada, yada, yada, yada. Playing on the fears of the gullible is how you make money, sell movies, get research grants, and get awards. The whole global warming issue is really reflective of the hubris of mankind. People actually think we can manage a planet like we manage a Wendy's franchise. The reality is that these are far more complex issues, that involve natural forces far beyond the ability of man to fully grasp, measure, or control.

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Friday, March 07, 2008

Global Warming

23 Comments: