Global warming is good for us now...

[daronspicher]

Global warming is now going to be ok. No need to panic, it could actually be a better Earth when it's a warmer earth. Stop running chicken little!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/

The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.[/b]

Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research has always been funded exclusively by the U.S. government. He receives no funding from any energy companies.[/b]

I'm sure Al Gore knows more than this professor, so let's get back to hysteria and whatever blatent lies Al Gore has to say this week to keep his income high enough to heat that house.

[SomervillePrius]

I don't think many people argue that the earth is warming or cooling naturally. What to me is scary is that we humans now help the earth get warmer by letting vast amounts of CO2 into the air. In an already volatile weather "ecosystem" this could cause a lot of scary new weather patterns. I'm not sure I would like to find out exactly how scary, our hurricanes here in US are already scary enough. So to me it makes sense that we, the people on this earth, try to spend our energy as efficient and clean as we can. This doesn't mean we won't see climate change, just that the climate change won't have unknown side effects caused by us humans.

[MegansPrius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Apr 9 2007, 09:13 AM) [snapback]420222[/snapback]</div>

Global warming is now going to be ok. No need to panic, it could actually be a better Earth when it's a warmer earth. Stop running chicken little!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/


I'm sure Al Gore knows more than this professor, so let's get back to hysteria and whatever blatent lies Al Gore has to say this week to keep his income high enough to heat that house.
[/b]

Richard Lindzen is hardly oil-money free.

http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/glo...xxon_report.pdf
Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy
$763,500
In 2002, ExxonMobil funds represented approximately 20% of their total expenses. The
Annapolis Center’s climate work includes production of materials exaggerating the uncertainty
about the human contribution to climate change. Climate contrarians Sallie Baliunas and
Richard Lindzen serve as scientific advisors.

Richard Lindzen affiliations with Exxon-funded institutes
Institute: Role
Annapolis Center for Science Based Public Policy: Science and Economic Advisory Council Member
Cato Institute: Contributing Expert
George C. Marshall Institute: Report Author

Ross Gelbspan reported in 1995 that Lindzen "charges oil and coal interests $2,500 a day for his consulting services; his 1991 trip to testify before a Senate committee was paid for by Western Fuels, and a speech he wrote, entitled 'Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus,' was underwritten by OPEC." ("The Heat is On: The warming of the world's climate sparks a blaze of denial," Harper's magazine, December 1995.)

[dbermanmd]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Apr 9 2007, 10:13 AM) [snapback]420222[/snapback]</div>

Global warming is now going to be ok. No need to panic, it could actually be a better Earth when it's a warmer earth. Stop running chicken little!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/


I'm sure Al Gore knows more than this professor, so let's get back to hysteria and whatever blatent lies Al Gore has to say this week to keep his income high enough to heat that house.
[/b]

great article. AGW has become a religion for the atheists.

amazing that at least SIX MLB games have been cancelled due to snow :-)

here in Gotham City it was snowing over the weekend.

[larkinmj]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MegansPrius @ Apr 9 2007, 10:45 AM) [snapback]420233[/snapback]</div>

Richard Lindzen is hardly oil-money free.

[/b]

And even if he was, Lindzen is one of a small minority of climate scientists who maintain the position that climate change is not a matter of concern. As such, his opinions are greatly sought and frequently published by the Wall Street Journal, the Cato Institute, and other "unbiased" entities.
It would seem illogical to only heed the opinions of Lindzen and to scorn the majority of climate scientists who maintain that global warming is, to a large extent, anthropogenic; and that it is a matter of concern. However, when one is interested only in promoting an opinion that aligns with ones self-interests, and not in a legitimate debate, that would seem to be the strategy.
As a scientist, I believe that skepticism is healthy and advances our overall level of knowledge. When one's work is subjected to critical review by others, it forces one to be more rigorous. That is the essence of the peer-review method, which has served science well. Listening to and considering a range of viewpoints will only enable us to understand this phenomenon even better than we do presently.
But the people who defiantly stick Richard Lindzen up on the wall to prove that climate scientists are "chicken littles" and that "algore" is full of it are not interested in a reasoned debate, or in actually learning anything about the science. The have a predetermined mindset- that any government regulation is bad, and since government regulation is likely going to be a remedy to mitigate global warming, that anyone who suggests that we must deal with global warming must be discredited at all costs.
Likewise, from a scientific point of view, I would say that anyone who immediately takes the position that we are on the brink of an impending disaster without understanding the science is equally wrong. However, at least their motives (concern for the environment) are more benign than those who are more concerned with corporate profits, and that their position, while extreme, is closer to reality than the global warming deniers.
These shouting matches with the "global warming is a myth" crowd are just a waste of time, and they distract us from the discussion that we need to be having- what to do about it. I don't necessarily believe that every proposed remedy for global warming is the right approach. For instance, I think that the cap and trade system is fraught with problems. We do need caps, and I'm not saying that I don't believe that cap and trade might be workable, but as it's now proposed I see it as primarily benefiting carbon credit brokers and possibly having a negative effect on reduction of emissions. But we won't even get to this kind of debate, as long as we have ill-informed congressmen pontificating that global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

[Ichabod]

I can't get enough of the argument that local weather patterns somehow refute global warming.

You guys are like the residents of High Brasil in the movie "Erik the Viking." Sitting there happily denying what's in front of your very eyes while your island sinks beneath the waves.

A few degrees warmer on average might sound nice to you, but to the millions upon millions of the worlds poorest people who live on large river deltas and whose lives will be washed away with a small change in sea level, it doesn't sound so nice.

[richard schumacher]

Thanks for sharing. Lindzen is a brother to that minority of aging geology professors who circa 1980 didn't think plate tectonics were real. He too shall pass.

For discussion of the facts of global warming see http://realclimate.org

[eagle33199]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 9 2007, 10:13 AM) [snapback]420256[/snapback]</div>

great article. AGW has become a religion for the atheists.

amazing that at least SIX MLB games have been cancelled due to snow :-)

here in Gotham City it was snowing over the weekend.
[/b]

Three cheers for the Metrodome! (and Twins games, like the Dollar-Dog night last wed, not being canceled!)

[larkinmj]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 9 2007, 11:13 AM) [snapback]420256[/snapback]</div>

great article. AGW has become a religion for the atheists.

amazing that at least SIX MLB games have been cancelled due to snow :-)

here in Gotham City it was snowing over the weekend.
[/b]

You're a physician, right? My grandfather smoked four packs of cigarettes a day for most of his life. He lived to be well in his 90s.
Ergo, smoking increases life expectancy, and you would recommend it to your patients?

[F8L]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Apr 9 2007, 08:31 AM) [snapback]420268[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for sharing. Lindzen is a brother to that minority of aging geology professors who circa 1980 didn't think plate tectonics were real. He too shall pass.

For discussion of the facts of global warming see http://realclimate.org
[/b]

Exactly!

I crack up everytime I see a post like the OP and it turns out to be from the SAME small handful of scientists. Lindzen and Christy stand out the most. You are reading what you want to hear and not doing enough real research. It's like going to a christian website to find out about athieism or taoism. *shakes head*