An Inconvenient Truth

This has been out for a while but I just saw part of it last weekend.

If you care about anything (kids, grandkids, drought, floods, life as we know it, etc...) you should see this movie!

Scary stuff!

In case you haven't heard, Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize, an Oscar and an Emmy! The first person in history to win those three awards.

I have resolved to not get into political wrangling on the boards, but the movie is bogus and other actual experts in the field are ignored or attempted to be discredited in the media when they point this out.

The Nobel prize is cheapening itself.

A judge in Britain has ruled that parents must give permission before their children can be shown this in school.

Have you seen the movie?

I haven't but I plan to.

Correct me if I'm wrong...but isn't the point of this movie to get individual people to each make a small effort which will add up to big strides being made in preventing bad things from happening to the Earth ? Seems like an effort that is of the good.

Saw the movie when it came out. Couldn't say enough good about it. Also bounced up and down quite a bit over the Nobel.

I always wonder why the idea of raising awareness or provoking thought is put in the political plank.... for instance, shouldn't clean air be acceptable and desirous of everyone? Isn't it logical to use a more efficient method of doing things always the better choice in the end? What's wrong with green space, clean water...etc... Better standards?


Sorry.....it's that darn Beatles music...Revolution is playing and I just got going on a rant.

I have not seen the movie and probably won't....but that doesnt' mean I am not doing everything I can to help the environment.

1)I have changed all my most used lamps with the new light bulb that lasts longer and uses less energy.

2)I recycle EVERYTHING I possibly can. Yes, I crush every cardboard box food comes in, every can, plastic bottle, every newspaper......etc.....

3)I have purchased a fuel efficient and low emmissions car. (35-40 miles to the gallon).

4) I no longer buy any aresol containers.

Share your ideas here about how we can save the earth one person at a time. I am very interested in hearing what people are doing....

Yes I have seen it. The point is not that we shouldn't all be doing something to help the environment, but rather that global warming is a man-made phenomenon, which is the bogus part. The Earth has had warming and cooling cycles many times over the eons. Most recently the major one was the end of the Ice Age, enabling most of the northern hemisphere to be populated. What caused it ? Global warming ! A tiny difference in the Sun's output one way or the other, will affect Earth's temperature far more than any man-made effort.

Also, you will note that there is never any mention of the benefits of global warming. Why? Because the present hoopla is primarily political.

What you say about us always having global warming cycles is true. But I was worried when I was in Alaska. All right,it was summer and ice melts but the papers were full of this was the worst melt that has yet occurred. When 81% of residents think they are in trouble....I think there is something that we should look at. Seriously.


http://www.minotdailynews.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=15219

We can "look at" it all we want but the Earth will still go through its cycles irregardless. Why specifically do the AK residents think they are "in trouble" ? Are they being flooded ? Haven't seen any news about it. With all this so-called polar ice melting and the alarms about the ocean level raising, where is it ? Who specifically is being flooded ? Surely there are sensitive enough instruments to detect even an inch of average ocean rise anywhere in the world, yet they are strangely silent......

Today I read a lot of online articles from National Geographic...

This one was written 4 years ago... So the $$$ figures would be different today... It's about what individuals can do to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions... Most of which it sounds like Jojo is already doing. The tips are on page 2.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0422_030422_conservationtips.html

This one from March 2006 is about rising sea levels...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0323_060323_global_warming.html

This page has videos...
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/global-warming-environment/


This website (not National Geographic) I've just begun to explore...
http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/index.html
Lots of photos and it even has 7 pages of references.

Here is the EPA's page on Sea Level Rise...
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar%5Cglobalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterPublicationsSeaLevelRiseIndex.html#US

Banjo wrote:http://www.worldnetdaily.com/staticarticles/article58279.html

[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml[/quote[/url]]

Hmmmm, the first one is a commentary by Patrick J Buchanan... The second one is a UK newspaper article.

I'm gonna have to think about this for a while.

Geologists: Collier Glacier is shrinking

Tue Oct 23, 10:57 PM ET

BEND, Ore. - Between the North Sister and Middle Sister in Oregon's Cascade Range, Collier Glacier has advanced and receded for hundreds of thousands of years. But like many glaciers, it is headed in one direction these days: backward.


It is in serious peril, says geologist Ellen Morris Bishop of the Fossil-based Oregon Paleo Lands Institute. "We have basically a really sad picture of Collier Glacier today."

Geologists blame among other things a warming climate, altering the landscape and perhaps the availability of water to high-elevation ecosystems. Collier is shrinking faster than most of the 35 glaciers in the state.

"Now everything is just in a chaotic shrink," Bishop said.

This summer she led a climate change-themed tour of the Central Oregon Cascades, starting from McKenzie Pass and heading south. Volcanic activity built the Cascades, but over eons the glaciers have worn them down.

At the glacier's base is a moraine, or a ridge of rocks, deposited by the slowly moving glacier when it was bigger. Today an empty valley fills the space between the ridge and the glacial edge.

"This was a full valley in 1906," Bishop said. Since then it has retreated more than a mile.

The ice sheet has visibly shrunk since she first visited the glacier in the 1980s, Bishop said.

"We're in trouble," said David Eddleston, of Bend and a participant in the field trip. "It's right there in front of our eyes."

The shrinking of the glacier started about the same time carbon dioxide emissions started rising, Bishop said.

"It's all tied to climate change, said Peter Clark, a geosciences professor at Oregon State University.

In the late 19th century, many glaciers started to retreat, he said. That shrinking was probably due to natural fluctuations in the atmospheric temperature.

But in the last 20 to 30 years, all of the Cascades' glaciers have been shrinking, he said.

Collier is reflective of glaciers all along the Cascades, Clark said.

And because the actions of glaciers reflect temperatures from two decades ago, even if warming trends were to stop today, glaciers would still be shrinking for at least 20 years to come, he said.

With warming predicted to rise between 3 and 5 degrees by the end of the century, temperature will likely be the main factor that causes glaciers' decline.

"Most people would say that by the turn of the century there will be very little ice left on the mountains," Clark said.

Glaciers store water in the winter and then release it throughout the year, Clark said, spreading out the time when water is flowing. Without the glaciers, many streams will rely more on springtime runoff.

"It will affect the water balance of the mountainous regions," he said.

"At some point, they're going to be so small that they're not going to pump out that water," said Andrew Fountain, a geology professor at Portland State University.

And when that happens, lands at higher elevations will be much drier and subject to droughts, Fountain said. Stream flow will probably decrease, which means that plant life along those waterways would diminish.

Some lakes previously fed by glaciers would become clearer because there would be no sediment but they could also start to evaporate and become smaller.

But while glaciers might shrink, that doesn't mean the ice on mountains will disappear completely, he said.

"It's actually tough to get rid of a glacier," Fountain said. As glaciers retreat, they do so by inching up to higher mountain elevations, where the air is colder.

"But it's the difference," Fountain said, "between the Collier Glacier today and a little ice patch that might be 100 yards long."

___

Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com

jero - Banjo



My thoughts on Global Warming.

I grew up in the Global Cooling phase (1960's-1970's) of the American educational system.


Many of America's leading scientists (who had the "ear" of the major news networks) were railing
against America's life styles insisting that we were going to precipitate the fourth ice age.

I tried to make sense of this by reading various novels, articles etc.

As a rational kind-of-guy, I found that the premise that made the most sense involved tectonic plate activity.

For example, when Krakatau erupted in 1883, there literally were no summers for the next three years.


Currently, North America is being impacted by two plates. The Pacific plate which dives under our
West Coast is slowly pushing North America to the northeast, and the Atlantic plate (which the USA
rests on) is slowly pushing us to the east by one inch per year.


This impacts not only the West Coast, but also the oceanic flows which have a major impact on
environmental concerns.


Anyway, as the British court system ruled, one of the major drawbacks in "An Inconvenient Truth" are
its glaring inaccuracies. But, I leave it to the world's climatologists to ferret these things out.


I will note that Australia's leading climatologist is forecasting that the earth is slowly moving into a
global cooling phase based on his analysis of the ocean's salinity.

Too many opinions based on too few facts.


For example, as the glaciers are slowly receding in the Arctic, there are sections in Antarctica's ice shelf
that are adding ice to the tune of thousands of feet each year. Go figure.


I will note that Mr. Gore has tried to pass three master programs, leading to an MBA, theology and law
degrees. He flunked all three. Oh well!

jero - Banjo



My thoughts on Global Warming.

I grew up in the Global Cooling phase (1960's-1970's) of the American educational system.


Many of America's leading scientists (who had the "ear" of the major news networks) were railing
against America's life styles insisting that we were going to precipitate the fourth ice age.

I tried to make sense of this by reading various novels, articles etc.

As a rational kind-of-guy, I found that the premise that made the most sense involved tectonic plate activity.

For example, when Krakatau erupted in 1883, there literally were no summers for the next three years.


Currently, North America is being impacted by two plates. The Pacific plate which dives under our
West Coast is slowly pushing North America to the northeast, and the Atlantic plate (which the USA
rests on) is slowly pushing us to the east by one inch per year.


This impacts not only the West Coast, but also the oceanic flows which have a major impact on
environmental concerns.


Anyway, as the British court system ruled, one of the major drawbacks in "An Inconvenient Truth" are
its glaring inaccuracies. But, I leave it to the world's climatologists to ferret these things out.


I will note that Australia's leading climatologist is forecasting that the earth is slowly moving into a
global cooling phase based on his analysis of the ocean's salinity.

Too many opinions based on too few facts.


For example, as the glaciers are slowly receding in the Arctic, there are sections in Antarctica's ice shelf
that are adding ice to the tune of thousands of feet each year. Go figure.


I will note that Mr. Gore has tried to pass three master programs, leading to an MBA, theology and law
degrees. He flunked all three. Oh well!

Gonna try to make this bigger so I can read it.

LarryP wrote:

jero - Banjo


My thoughts on Global Warming.

I grew up in the Global Cooling phase (1960's-1970's) of the American educational system.


Many of America's leading scientists (who had the "ear" of the major news networks) were railing against America's life styles insisting that we were going to precipitate the fourth ice age.

I tried to make sense of this by reading various novels, articles etc.

As a rational kind-of-guy, I found that the premise that made the most sense involved tectonic plate activity.

For example, when Krakatau erupted in 1883, there literally were no summers for the next three years.


Currently, North America is being impacted by two plates. The Pacific plate which dives under our West Coast is slowly pushing North America to the northeast, and the Atlantic plate (which the USA rests on) is slowly pushing us to the east by one inch per year.


This impacts not only the West Coast, but also the oceanic flows which have a major impact on environmental concerns.


Anyway, as the British court system ruled, one of the major drawbacks in "An Inconvenient Truth" are its glaring inaccuracies. But, I leave it to the world's climatologists to ferret these things out.


I will note that Australia's leading climatologist is forecasting that the earth is slowly moving into a global cooling phase based on his analysis of the ocean's salinity.

Too many opinions based on too few facts.


For example, as the glaciers are slowly receding in the Arctic, there are sections in Antarctica's ice shelf that are adding ice to the tune of thousands of feet each year. Go figure.


I will note that Mr. Gore has tried to pass three master programs, leading to an MBA, theology and law degrees. He flunked all three. Oh well!

Having thought about Banjo's links for a while, I have this to say:

Mr. Buchanan is entitled to his opinion (as we all are). However, it holds no more sway with me than any of the opinions posted here.

The UK newspaper article was interesting. I had some trouble following the calculations. Not being a climatologist, I have no idea if the author is right or wrong with his calculations. I do know that numbers/data can be manipulated to show anything you want. The UN and Mr. Gore may or may not have knowingly done this.

Ber great article about glaciers. That's one of the things that really got me about the movie. The pics from years past compared to now! Unlike the data/numbers, pics are easy to understand. (Yes they too can be manipulated, but it's much easier for the average person to spot.) I had no idea the changes in the glaciers and lakes were so drastic. It makes me wonder how the people that are dependent on them for water are going to survive.


LarryP thanks for your input. I'd like to read about these things you mentioned, if you have links: 1. North American tectonic plate activity, 2. Australia's leading climatologist... global cooling phase... the ocean's salinity, 3. Antarctica's ice shelf adding ice... thousands of feet each year.

Mr. Gore has tried to pass three master programs

As I recall, Einstein had trouble in school too.


I would like to point out that I never said I believe humans have any effect on global warming. Banjo reacted so strongly that I wanted to find out what was behind his reaction. :D

What I do believe is that we all should respect the earth we live on.

"What I do believe is that we all should respect the earth we live on."

Well said, Jero. That is the bottom line. Do what we can do to help the earth....the rest is going to happen no matter what we do....... and no matter what anyone else "predicts."

And one major earthquake and we're all toast.... the dinosaurs didn't just disappear one day.....

jojo wrote: And one major earthquake and we're all toast....

Yep! And I live closer to the New Madrid fault than you do. I just hope I'm on 'my' side of the Mississippi when the fault moves.

self-edited.

Was it that bad Ber?

Well said jojo, and thanks jero for making my ramblings readable!

Nothing gets my "goat" more than people disrespecting Mother Earth!
Even in CT's quiet corner (Plainfield), the sides of the road are littered! People toss stuff out without regard to its toxicity or just plain unsightliness.

Makes one want to shout out at them to WAKE UP!

What Larry said about the "Global Cooling Phase" reminded me of this, which is why I take all of this with a large grain of salt. That doesn't mean that we can't all take sensible measures. I have all CFL bulbs in my house and my electric bill is $5-10 a month lower ever since. That is a real-world result that we can see and take advantage of, but no way am I thinking that I am "saving the Earth" or that it makes one whit of difference in climate change now or ever.

"The Cooling World" - by Peter Gwynne







April 28, 1975 Newsweek








There
are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to
change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic
decline in food production – with serious political implications for
just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin
quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now.

The regions
destined to feel its impact are the great wheat-producing lands of
Canada and the U.S.S.R. in the North, along with a number of marginally
self-sufficient tropical areas – parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Indochina and Indonesia – where the growing season is dependent upon
the rains brought by the monsoon.

The
evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so
massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it. In
England, farmers have seen their growing season decline by about two
weeks since 1950, with a resultant overall loss in grain production
estimated at up to 100,000 tons annually. During the same time, the
average temperature around the equator has risen by a fraction of a
degree – a fraction that in some areas can mean drought and desolation.
Last April, in the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever
recorded, 148 twisters killed more than 300 people and caused half a
billion dollars' worth of damage in 13 U.S. states.

To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the
advance signs of fundamental changes in the world's weather.
Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the trend, as
well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they
are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce
agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic
change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting
famines could be catastrophic. “A major climatic change would force
economic and social adjustments on a worldwide scale,” warns a recent
report by the National Academy of Sciences, “because the global
patterns of food production and population that have evolved are
implicitly dependent on the climate of the present century.”


A survey completed last year by Dr. Murray Mitchell of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveals a drop of half a degree
in average ground temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere between 1945
and 1968. According to George Kukla of Columbia University, satellite
photos indicated a sudden, large increase in Northern Hemisphere snow
cover in the winter of 1971-72. And a study released last month by two
NOAA scientists notes that the amount of sunshine reaching the ground
in the continental U.S. diminished by 1.3% between 1964 and 1972.

To
the layman, the relatively small changes in temperature and sunshine
can be highly misleading. Reid Bryson of the University of Wisconsin
points out that the Earth’s average temperature during the great Ice
Ages was only about seven degrees lower than during its warmest eras –
and that the present decline has taken the planet about a sixth of the
way toward the Ice Age average.

Others regard the cooling as a
reversion to the “little ice age” conditions that brought bitter
winters to much of Europe and northern America between 1600 and 1900 –
years when the Thames used to freeze so solidly that Londoners roasted
oxen on the ice and when iceboats sailed the Hudson River almost as far
south as New York City.

Just
what causes the onset of major and minor ice ages remains a mystery.
“Our knowledge of the mechanisms of climatic change is at least as
fragmentary as our data,” concedes the National Academy of Sciences
report. “Not only are the basic scientific questions largely
unanswered, but in many cases we do not yet know enough to pose the key
questions.”

Meteorologists think that they can forecast the
short-term results of the return to the norm of the last century. They
begin by noting the slight drop in overall temperature that produces
large numbers of pressure centers in the upper atmosphere. These break
up the smooth flow of westerly winds over temperate areas. The stagnant
air produced in this way causes an increase in extremes of local
weather such as droughts, floods, extended dry spells, long freezes,
delayed monsoons and even local temperature increases – all of which
have a direct impact on food supplies. “The world’s food-producing
system,” warns Dr. James D. McQuigg of NOAA’s Center for Climatic and
Environmental Assessment, “is much more sensitive to the weather
variable than it was even five years ago.” Furthermore, the growth of
world population and creation of new national boundaries make it
impossible for starving peoples to migrate from their devastated
fields, as they did during past famines.

Climatologists are
pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to
compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They
concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as
melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting
arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve.
But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are
even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of
introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic
projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the
more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the
results become grim reality.









See the Original Column...







Newsweek: The Cooling World -04.28.75
[Note: Adobe Reader Required to Read This .pdf File]

Very cute,Jero. I'd say that about covers the subject.