GOP State Rep Metcalfe Calls Vets Traitors For Believing In Climate Change
Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe says veterans who support the concepts of global warming and climate change are traitors, comparable to Benedict Arnold. Gina Cooper has started a petition to calling on Metcalfe to stop referring to his fellow veterans in such a manner. Metcalfe objects to a bus tour by Operation Free, veterans who are urging elected officials to meet with them to discuss these issues. In response, Metcalfe issues this release:
As a veteran,
I believe that any veteran lending their name, to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change, in an effort to control more of the wealth created in our economy, through cap and tax type policies, all in the name of national security, is a traitor to the oath he or she took defend the Constitution of our great nation!
Remember Benedict Arnold before giving credibility to a veteran who uses their service as a means to promote a leftist agenda.
Drill Baby Drill!!! For Liberty, Daryl Metcalfe State Representative Veteran U.S. Army”
As Cooper asks:
Rep. Metcalfe, stop calling your fellow veterans traitors for speaking their conscious on national security matters related to Global Climate Change.
Do you think Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn or Republican Senator John Warner are traitors?
Several agencies of the United States government and non-partisan think tanks have issued reports or launched investigations on the national security effects of climate change…are they traitors to the Constitution?
Another cretin locked like a ball and chain onto the leg of civilization. And he spent part of his time in the army attending Kansas State University.
Obviously KSU ain’t much of a school.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Fighting for your country is only honorable when your ideology is the same as the GOP.
average james Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Anyone else notice the conservative hang up on symbolism?
Uniforms are sooooooo important.
The flag is borderline holy.
Put your hand over your heart for the pledge or you’re unamerican.
Lapel pins.
Little ribbons that proclaim support for the troops.
I feel ill.
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Symbolism over real substance, for sure, Average James.
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
CherylCarroll, you’re right, that’s EXACTLY how the right wing thinks!
October 19th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I think his point is this:
Global warming has been shown to be false; no science continues to support it.
Soldiers who use their name and uniform to lend credence to falsehoods are not being honorable to that uniform.
Um Cara Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Global warming has been shown to be false; no science continues to support it.
LOL
OldLefty Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
That’s why more and more American corporations are even abandoning the Chamber of Commerce and opposing its stance on global warming.
I think the evidence is only getting stronger.
Those in government willing to send troops into harms way while trashing their right to voice their opinion betray the oath they take AND betray the those troops,
Besides, veterans should only lend their names, to promote the RIGHT WING propaganda of denying global warming to protect the profits of Exxon Mobile!
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
OldLefty: “veterans should only lend their names, to promote the RIGHT WING propaganda of denying global warming to protect the profits of Exxon Mobile!”
Yes, that’s probabley EXACTLY how people like Daryl Metcalfe think.
average james Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
John,
You must not be reading foxnews online.
Polar ice is melting at alarming rates–fox news
Acceleration of polar melt is surpassing scientists predictions–fon news
etc.
average james Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
“…not being honorable to that uniform.”
What ? Traitor ?
It’s the conservative way or you’re a traitor ?
This guy is AWOL.
October 19th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
A Calvin and Hobbes quote fits this man well. This comment “certifies him as a grade ‘A’ nimrod”
October 19th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
You must not be reading foxnews online.
You are right. I try and read good conservative sources. Not the typical left wing nuttery ;-)
Polar ice is melting at alarming rates–fox news
Doesn’t matter who is saying it. Polar ice is not melting at alarming rates.
Acceleration of polar melt is surpassing scientists predictions–fon news
Again with this leftist propaganda ;-) There is no acceleration of melting.
It’s the conservative way or you’re a traitor ?
Not at all. You absolutely can be a liberal and hold views commonly held by the left and serve honorably; bring honer to that uniform. My point is that I think what the congressman is saying is that these soldiers are trading on their uniform and making a point that is patently not true. And knowingly.
** Point of clarification: Man is releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Said atmosphere may be warming and I am willing to believe that it is. What I am NOT buying into is this idea of catastrophic man made global warming ala Al Gore and his now defunct “hockey stick”.
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
“Man is releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Said atmosphere may be warming and I am willing to believe that it is.”
Well, that’s SOMETHING to your credit, anyway.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
John Galt, have you seen these articles:
sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111185.htm
“Temperature change in the Arctic is happening at a greater rate than other places in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is expected to continue in the future. As a result, glacier and ice-sheet melting, sea-ice retreat, coastal erosion and sea-level rise can be expected to continue.”
nasonline.org/site/PageServer/application/PageServer?pagename=NEWS_Main
SCIENCE ACADEMIES URGE FASTER RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE–June 11, 2009: In a joint statement, the science academies of the G8 countries, plus Brazil, China, India and others, called on their leaders to “seize all opportunities” to address global climate change that “is happening even faster than previously estimated.” The signers, which include National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone, urged nations at the upcoming Copenhagen climate talks to adopt goals aimed at reducing global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. The academies also urged these governmentsm meeting in Italy this month, to “lead the transition to an energy efficient and low carbon economy, and foster innovation and research and development for both mitigation and adaptation technologies.”
esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
Measurements of atmospheric CO2 levels by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a steadily rising concentration of atmopheric carbon dioxide from 1958 to the present, with corresponding destruction of forests capable of absorbing the CO2 and increased burning of fossil fuels that release CO2 occurring during this same time period.
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=739
A study led by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego finds that global warming is one reason forest fires in the western U.S. have increased “suddenly and dramatically” in recent years.
agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/2006GL027511.shtml
Numerous studies show that most of the world’s glaciers, as well as the massive ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, are melting. In one of these studies, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center reports that oceans gain 20 billion net tons of water each year.
coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/caribbean2005/
Unusually warm waters cause a record coral bleaching event in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Over 90 percent if corals suffered bleaching at some sites. In the eastern Carribbean, almost half of these corals perished. Inability of ocean water to raise pH by absorbing CO2 is an indication of ocean temperatures warming.
epa.gov/climatechange/ipcc2007.html#wg1
The Larsen B ice shelf, which is 1,260 square miles in area and 650 feet thick (roughly the size of Rhode Island), disintegrates in the Antarctic Peninsula.
edf.org/pagecfm?tdgID=65&template=1359&archive=5563&s=541
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii reach 368.37 ppm, their highest level in at least 420,000 years.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111185.htm
“Temperature change in the Arctic is happening at a greater rate than other places in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is expected to continue in the future. As a result, glacier and ice-sheet melting, sea-ice retreat, coastal erosion and sea-level rise can be expected to continue.”
nasonline.org/site/PageServer/application/PageServer?pagename=NEWS_Main
SCIENCE ACADEMIES URGE FASTER RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE–June 11, 2009: In a joint statement, the science academies of the G8 countries, plus Brazil, China, India and others, called on their leaders to “seize all opportunities” to address global climate change that “is happening even faster than previously estimated.” The signers, which include National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone, urged nations at the upcoming Copenhagen climate talks to adopt goals aimed at reducing global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. The academies also urged these governmentsm meeting in Italy this month, to “lead the transition to an energy efficient and low carbon economy, and foster innovation and research and development for both mitigation and adaptation technologies.”
esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
Measurements of atmospheric CO2 levels by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a steadily rising concentration of atmopheric carbon dioxide from 1958 to the present, with corresponding destruction of forests capable of absorbing the CO2 and increased burning of fossil fuels that release CO2 occurring during this same time period.
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=739
A study led by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego finds that global warming is one reason forest fires in the western U.S. have increased “suddenly and dramatically” in recent years.
agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/2006GL027511.shtml
Numerous studies show that most of the world’s glaciers, as well as the massive ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, are melting. In one of these studies, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center reports that oceans gain 20 billion net tons of water each year.
coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/caribbean2005/
Unusually warm waters cause a record coral bleaching event in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Over 90 percent if corals suffered bleaching at some sites. In the eastern Carribbean, almost half of these corals perished. Inability of ocean water to raise pH by absorbing CO2 is an indication of ocean temperatures warming.
epa.gov/climatechange/ipcc2007.html#wg1
The Larsen B ice shelf, which is 1,260 square miles in area and 650 feet thick (roughly the size of Rhode Island), disintegrates in the Antarctic Peninsula.
edf.org/pagecfm?tdgID=65&template=1359&archive=5563&s=541
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii reach 368.37 ppm, their highest level in at least 420,000 years.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111185.htm
“Temperature change in the Arctic is happening at a greater rate than other places in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is expected to continue in the future. As a result, glacier and ice-sheet melting, sea-ice retreat, coastal erosion and sea-level rise can be expected to continue.”
nasonline.org/site/PageServer/application/PageServer?pagename=NEWS_Main
SCIENCE ACADEMIES URGE FASTER RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE–June 11, 2009: In a joint statement, the science academies of the G8 countries, plus Brazil, China, India and others, called on their leaders to “seize all opportunities” to address global climate change that “is happening even faster than previously estimated.” The signers, which include National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone, urged nations at the upcoming Copenhagen climate talks to adopt goals aimed at reducing global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. The academies also urged these governmentsm meeting in Italy this month, to “lead the transition to an energy efficient and low carbon economy, and foster innovation and research and development for both mitigation and adaptation technologies.”
esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
Measurements of atmospheric CO2 levels by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a steadily rising concentration of atmopheric carbon dioxide from 1958 to the present, with corresponding destruction of forests capable of absorbing the CO2 and increased burning of fossil fuels that release CO2 occurring during this same time period.
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=739
A study led by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego finds that global warming is one reason forest fires in the western U.S. have increased “suddenly and dramatically” in recent years.
agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/2006GL027511.shtml
Numerous studies show that most of the world’s glaciers, as well as the massive ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, are melting. In one of these studies, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center reports that oceans gain 20 billion net tons of water each year.
coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/caribbean2005/
Unusually warm waters cause a record coral bleaching event in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Over 90 percent if corals suffered bleaching at some sites. In the eastern Carribbean, almost half of these corals perished. Inability of ocean water to raise pH by absorbing CO2 is an indication of ocean temperatures warming.
epa.gov/climatechange/ipcc2007.html#wg1
The Larsen B ice shelf, which is 1,260 square miles in area and 650 feet thick (roughly the size of Rhode Island), disintegrates in the Antarctic Peninsula.
edf.org/pagecfm?tdgID=65&template=1359&archive=5563&s=541
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii reach 368.37 ppm, their highest level in at least 420,000 years.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111185.htm
“Temperature change in the Arctic is happening at a greater rate than other places in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is expected to continue in the future. As a result, glacier and ice-sheet melting, sea-ice retreat, coastal erosion and sea-level rise can be expected to continue.”
nasonline.org/site/PageServer/application/PageServer?pagename=NEWS_Main
SCIENCE ACADEMIES URGE FASTER RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE–June 11, 2009: In a joint statement, the science academies of the G8 countries, plus Brazil, China, India and others, called on their leaders to “seize all opportunities” to address global climate change that “is happening even faster than previously estimated.” The signers, which include National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone, urged nations at the upcoming Copenhagen climate talks to adopt goals aimed at reducing global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. The academies also urged these governmentsm meeting in Italy this month, to “lead the transition to an energy efficient and low carbon economy, and foster innovation and research and development for both mitigation and adaptation technologies.”
esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
Measurements of atmospheric CO2 levels by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a steadily rising concentration of atmopheric carbon dioxide from 1958 to the present, with corresponding destruction of forests capable of absorbing the CO2 and increased burning of fossil fuels that release CO2 occurring during this same time period.
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=739
A study led by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego finds that global warming is one reason forest fires in the western U.S. have increased “suddenly and dramatically” in recent years.
agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/2006GL027511.shtml
Numerous studies show that most of the world’s glaciers, as well as the massive ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, are melting. In one of these studies, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center reports that oceans gain 20 billion net tons of water each year.
coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/caribbean2005/
Unusually warm waters cause a record coral bleaching event in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Over 90 percent if corals suffered bleaching at some sites. In the eastern Carribbean, almost half of these corals perished. Inability of ocean water to raise pH by absorbing CO2 is an indication of ocean temperatures warming.
epa.gov/climatechange/ipcc2007.html#wg1
The Larsen B ice shelf, which is 1,260 square miles in area and 650 feet thick (roughly the size of Rhode Island), disintegrates in the Antarctic Peninsula.
edf.org/pagecfm?tdgID=65&template=1359&archive=5563&s=541
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii reach 368.37 ppm, their highest level in at least 420,000 years.
Just a little food for thought, JG, and hopefully it doesn’t give you any greenhouse gas!
libpatriot Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Oops, I have repeats in there; now that my computer has finally been repaired enough to cut-and-paste, it seems to be trying to overcompensate!
libpatriot Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:17 am
My computer must be daring Daryl Metcalfe to label it a “Benedict Arnold”.
libpatriot Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Darn computer’s old enough to be a veteran of the FIRST Iraq War…
October 20th, 2009 at 1:06 am
John Galt, there’s also this to consider:
“A Sharper Warning on Warming”, in the New York Times, October 28, 2000.
Parts of the upcoming International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report are leaked to the press. It concludes that the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and other human-produced emissions have “contributed substantially to the observed warming over the last 50 years” and predicts that temperatures could rise far higher and faster than previously predicted if emissions are not curtailed. The findings are called a “wake-up call” to governments.
nytimes.com/2000/10/28/opinion/a-sharper-warning-on-warming.html
NOAA Reports 2002 Was Marked By Widespread Drought In The U.S., Return of El Nino, and Warm Global Temperature, in NOAA Magazine, December 17, 2002.
Heavy rains cause disastrous record floods in Central europe leading to over 100 deaths and more then $30 billion in damage. Extreme droughts in many parts of the world (including Africa, India, Australia and the U.S.) result in thousands of deaths and significant crop damage.
noaanews.noaa.gov/sstories/s1075.htm
Karl, Thomas R. and Kevin E. Trenberth. “Modern Global Climate Change.” Science Magazine December 5, 2003.
A review paper published in Science claims there is no doubt that global warming is dominated by human influences. The paper, written by two of America’s leading climate scientists–Thomas Karl, a meteorologist at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC, and Kevin Trenberth, chief of the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research–goes on to say that global warming “may prove to be humanity’s greatest challenge” and warns “it is very unlikely to be adequately addressed without greatly improved international cooperation and action.”
sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/302/569/1719
Oreskes, Naomi. “Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus ofn Climate Change”, for Science December 4, 2004.
Science magazine publishes study by researcher Naomi Oreskes, who concludes that after going through 928 papers on climate change in peer reviewed journals, there was no serious challenges to the scientific consensus that the phenomena of global warming is real and largely human-made.
sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;306/5702/1686
Hansen, J., L. Nazarenko, R. Ruedy, M. Sato, J. Willis, A. Del Genio, D. Koch, A. Lacis, K. Lo, S. Menon, T. Novakov, J. Perlivitz, G. Russell, G.A. Schmidt, and N. Tausnev (2005), “Earth’s energy imbalance: confirmation and implications, Science 308, pp.1431-1435.
James Hansen of NASA and other scientists publish a paper finding that the ocean has warmed by an amount consistent with the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The scientists call it “the smoking gun” pointing to human interference in the climate system.
sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/308/5727/1431
Associated Press, November 21, 2006
“Global warming already killing.”
A study published in the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution & Systematics finds that hundreds of species have already begun to respond to warming by shifting lifecycle timing and geographic ranges.
From the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:
pnas.org/content/105/11/4197
pnas.org//content.106/5/1479.abstract
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Working Group I The Physical Science Basis for Climate Change”, February 2007.
The IPCC releases its Fourth Assessment Report authored by 2,500 leading climate scientists and other experts that concludes that it is “very likely” the climate change observed to date is a human-made phenomenon. The report wins its authors and advocates (including Al Gore) the Nobel Prize and builds international political agreement on the causes of global warming.
ipcc-wg1.unibe.ch/publications/wg1-ar4/wg1par4.html
“Super-size Deposits Of Frozen Carbon In Arctic Could Worsen Climate Change”, ScienceDaily, July 6, 2009.
“The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week…Dr. Pep Canadell, Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project at CSIRO Australia, and co-author of the study says that the existence of these super-sized deposits of frozen carbon means that any thawing of permafrost due to global warming may lead to significant emissons of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane…The carbon assessment is published this week in the journal of Global Biogeochemical Cycles (GB2023, doi:10.1029/2008 gb003327) of the American Geophysical Union, and the radiocarbon study was recently published in the journal of Nature.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630132005.htm
Just the tip of the iceberg, lol.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:37 am
John Galt, there’s also this:
Coastal maps created by scientists at the University of Arizona project widespread coastal devastation from sea level rise and warn that seas could rise as much a 4.5 feet by the end of the century. [Borenstein, Seth. "Global warming's rising seas projected to overtake unique U.S. coastal spots in 100 years", Associated Press, September 22, 2007.]
In 2001, The U.S. Global Change Research Program released The National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, which found that temperatures in the U.S. will rise by 1.5-5 degrees Celsius over the next century, and predicts increases in both very wet (flooding) and very dry (drought) conditions. [National Assessment Synthesis Team. U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. United States Global Change Research Program, 2001]
jazmine Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Holy jigger, you did good Lib. I don’t think John will buy into any of it, though.
libpatriot Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Thanks, Jaz, but that’s often the problem with conservatism: it based on what they WANT to believe is true. I’d LOVE to believe the earth could just magically heal itself in short order, but the facts mounting up say it just isn’t so!
jazmine Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 2:06 am
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
I’m a big fan of his and have been for 20 yrs. You might be interested in reading some of his literature.
libpatriot Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Thanks for the link, Jaz! I’ll be sure to check out his work. It’s heartening to know that there’s SOME people willing to be adult enough to face that we have to adapt to a sustainable, less-destructive lifestyle for the sake of the future; not be like so many who just selfishly cry that they don’t want to change if it means some sacrifice, or who claim that we don’t have to try to do anything because “God will just fix our boo-boo for us”. Or who just continue to deny everything that they wish wasn’t true.
We could all do more, myself included.
jazmine Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Haha,…Fur balls are done and gone…yippee! Your right, it’s time for a brew.
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Jazmine, I particularly like David Suzuki’s suggestions contained on this:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Small_Steps
Because, after all, from small steps, big steps one day come!!!
Suzuki is a cool guy.
jazmine Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Yes he is, he’s a modern day pioneer and has been for as long as I’ve known him :) He’s not preachy, but rather informs listeners of the facts and what a difference we can all make, no matter how small.
EricG Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I have a question for all these scientists:
What about the sun?
I’m not one of these global warming deniers, just to opposite.
But I think they are not taking into the account the solar-cycles that we don’t fully understand into the equation.
I think green-house gases are the real problem but the sun being a non-normal state is probably advancing the problem rather than having no change to the situation.
I don’t have any science on that, of course.
Solar Science is a new field. They don’t know half as much about that as they do about Climatology.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 5:02 am
EricG, we’re experiencing a temporary cooling in SOME areas of the world while we’re actually approaching a low in the eleven year sunspot cycle (NASA: The Sunspot Cycle, updated July 1, 2009)
solarscience.msfc/nasa.gov/SunSpotCycle.shtml
This low in the sunspot cycle has likely lead to reports like this one from GISS Surface Temperature Analysis Global Warming Trends: 2008 Annual Summation: “Calendar year 2008 was the coolest year since 2000, according to Goddard Institute for Space Studies analysis of surface air remperature measurements. In our analysis, 2008 is the ninth warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements, which extends back to 1880. The ten warmest years all occur within the 12-year period, 1997-2008. The two-standard-deviation (95% statistically confident) uncertainty in comparing recent years is estimated at 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit, so we can only conclude with confidence that 2008 was somewhere within the range from 7th to 10th warmest year in the record.”
data.giss.nasa.gov/gistimp/2008/
Being near the low in the normally 11-year long sunspot cycle causes cooler than normal temps in various temperate areas of the world, but doesn’t negate the fact that we are continuing to oscillate upward in overall temperature trends through the decades. The sun is the ultimate source of our warmth, and so will naturally figure into any temperature patterns we experience, for sure.
And it is understood that you are not one of those global warming deniers, to your credit. Hope you found these links helpful!
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 3:45 am
EricG, here is a helpful website on the sun’s influence on the earth’s warming:
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SunspotCycle.shtml
jazmine Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Hi Lib, doing your homework I see and teaching Eric. Did you see those pics of that sandstorm they had in Sydney? Wow!
I need a break, I’m inhaling too many synthetic fur balls, “cough”.
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Wow Jaz, yeah, that’s a LOT of red Outback sand blowing through there! Time for a good shiraz to wash away those synthetic furballs. Doctor’s orders, don’t you know.
Myself, I need to drink a tall glass of water after watching all those Sydney sandstorm pictures. I SWEAR that now I feel like I’ve got grit in my teeth, lol.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:41 am
J.G., there’s this, too:
Beckage, B., B. Osborne, D.G. Gavin, C. Pucko, T. Siccama, and T. Perkins (2008), “A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont”, Proceedings National Academy of Science 105, pp.4197-4202.
A resurvey of forest plots of boreal (evergreen) forest established along elevation transects in 1964 reveals an upward elevational shift of these boreal species consistent with climate change. The scientists involved concluded, “our results indicate that high-elevation forests may be jeopardized by climate change sooner than expected.”
pnas.org/content/105/11/4197.full
Chen, I.-C. H.-J. Shiu, S. Benedick, J.D. Holloway, V.K. Chey, H.S. Barlow, J.K. Hill, and C.D. Thomas (2009), “Elevation increases in moth assemblages over 42 years on a tropical mountain”, Proceedings National Academy of Sciences Usa 106, pp. 1479-1483.
An altitudinal transect survey of 102 moth species done in 1965 was repeated in 2007 at the same study site, Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo. The average altitudes of these moths increased by a mean of 67 meters over 42 years, as these insects retreated to higher habitats over time to stay within the climate zones to which they have adapted. These scientists conclude that, considering insect thermal sensitivity, great numbers of tropical insect species are being affected by global warming.
pnas.org/content/106/5/1479.abstract
October 20th, 2009 at 1:49 am
AN EXAMPLE OF HOW GLOBAL WARMING EFFECTS ARE STUDIED IN THE POLAR ICE
We are on the brink of making the planet warmer overall than any time in human history, and the polar regions are the areas to watch:
Geoscientists at Oregon State University, Jinho Ahn and Edward Brook, analyzed 390 ice core samples taken from Antarctic ice at Byrd Station. These samples contain information on the earth’s atmosphere and climate dating back between 20,000 and 90,000 years.
The samples are sectioned and carefully crushed, releasing gases from bubbles that have been frozen into the ice for millennia. Ahn and Brook analyzed the gas samples to measure the contained carbon dioxide levels, and these levels get compared to climate data from Greenland and Antarctica reflecting the appropriate temperatures when the gases were trapped.
These obtained CO2 levels are also compared with ocean sediments in Chile and the Iberian Peninsula. Ahn and Brook sought to gain an understanding of the speed of North Atlantic ocean currents and the stratification of the Southern Ocean from this sediment data.
Ahn and Brook state that a variety of factors may be at work in the future that alter the relationship between climate change and ocean currents. They discovered from their data a pattern that further confirms that ELEVATIONS IN CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS were related to SUBSEQUENT INCREASES IN THE EARTH’S TEMPERATURE, as well as to reduced circulation of north Atlantic Ocean currents.
Also suggested by the data is the weakening of mixing of waters in the Southern Ocean due to these reduced current speeds caused an increase in atmospheric CO2 levels (the CO2 wasn’t being absorbed as much by the ocean when it wasn’t circulating as much).
Ahn and Brook say this may point to a potential future scenario where global warming causes changes in ocean currents which in turn causes more CO2 to enter the atmosphere, adding more greenhouse gas to an already warming climate.
It is also noted that atmospheric CO2 levels in today’s atmosphere are much higher than the period that Ahn and Brook have studied here.
Read the article about the study by Ahn and Brook at:
sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003155620.htm
Read the abstract from Ahn and Brook’s published report at:
sciencemag.org/cgi/contents/abstract/322/5898/83
October 20th, 2009 at 1:55 am
GLOBAL WARMING IN THE DISTANT PAST, ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
The present scientific consensus is that the last significant global warming began a mass extinction of flora (mainly algae and mosses) and fauna (microscopic animals, macroscopic invertebrates, fishes, and amphibians) in the late Permian period (250 million years ago), and this is how it is thought to have come about:
Plate techtonics changed in the late Permian, as the parts of the single land mass Pangaea started moving away from each other rather than colliding together. This led to the reduction of the occurrence of collisional mountain generation (orogenesis) that exposed chemically weatherable fresh silicate rock. The reduced availability of this silicate rock meant less of it was available to chemically lock up carbon or to be used as substrate for plants that could absorb CO2. With the disappearance of these plants, there became less nutrient circulation in the biosphere (living community), which further increased CO2 concentration and global warming.
The sinking of oxygen- and nutrient-rich cold brines down into the ocean was severely slowed down by water from melting polar ice entering the oceans Panthalassa and Tethys. Directional wind shear and any wind-driven upwelling of land decreased, further reducing plant circulation through the world and thus reducing productivity levels and reducing carbon burial.
Dry climates expanded their range from their normal latitudes of around 30 degrees from either side of the equator towards middle latitudes as the planet continued warming. This caused Ferrel air circulation cells on both sides of the equator to expand latitudinally at the expense of the polar circulation cells.
Coastal evaporation continued to increase, causing warm saline bottom water (WSBW), poorer in O2 and nutrients, to be delivered to the deep oceans with increasingly weak circulating ability. The warm, deep currents that still existed within in the oceaans delivered increasingly more heat to higher latitudes. Cold deep ocean currents ceased to exist as the thermal gradient between the poles and the rest of the world started disappearing.
With less polar sinking of cold air, the oceans filled with WSBW more rapidly, becoming increasingly anoxic (oxygen poor, in terms of oxygen in its O2 form), and ultimately becoming euxinic (containing large amounts of sulfides, compounds with SO3, as well as containing little or no O2). Sulfate-reducing marine life stripped oxygen from the sulfate compounds entering the water, releasing toxic hydrogen sulfide as a waste product. This ultimately caused the extinction of 85% of marine life forms.
Siberian basalt eruptions released CO2 during this warming time, creating further warming, and this increased warming in the ocean facilitated the release of methane from methane clathrates (methane trapped within crystal H2O ice structures, which first formed around the methane gas seeping up into the ocean floor from geologic faults into cold sea water) into the atmosphere, adding further to global warming.
Cyclonic storms, unlike mass directional (non-rotating) winds, became increasingly more frequent and powerful, picking up more high latitude heat and distributing it throughout the atmosphere. The heat became held in place by methane and vapor clouds, likely causing a complete breakdown of the dry polar ciculation cells.
This caused further polar warming that was both rapid and intense, which contributed to the extiction of the last-remaining Permian coal forests, which were limited from migrating to higher latitudes by their light-duration requirements. Aquifer drainage was caused by the loss of water formerly stored by these forests. Warmth was further intensified by the coal forest extinction. [Kidder, David L., and Thomas R. Worsley, "Causes and consequences of extreme Permo-Triassic warming to globally equable climate and relation to the Permo-Triassic extiction and recovery." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatiligy, Palaeoecology, Volume 203, Issues 3-4, 15 February 2004, pp. 207-237.]
It is thought that a comet striking the earth in the early Triassic perid, combined with an increase of volcanic activity, produced enough sheilding from the sun to eventually cool the earth down again…in about 17 million years’ time. During that time, the mutation of marine life eventually produced life forms capable of breaking up the sulfide compunds in the oceans and releasing free oxygen once again…again, after about 17 million years.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V6R-4B850MF-2/2/702be411190d117ac95ee5e83c0cb91b
We’d never want it to get THIS bad again, would we? But chain reactions and positive feedback loops are powerful forces in nature, hard to stop once they really get going.
We have two things working for us this time around that life in the Permian era never had:
1)a greater variety of plant life forms to absorb CO2 (especially in the rain forests, if we can avoid cutting them all down),
and
2)humans with brains that could be capable of recognizing the problem and adapting to the challenges of pursuing a less environmentally-destructive lifestyle (but will humans use their brains for these purposes, or use them to find creative-sounding ways to deny the problem even exists?)
October 20th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Now, why exactly would anybody be considered a traitor for warning about the disastrous effects of runaway global warming?
Um Cara Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Because Global warming has been shown to be false; no science continues to support it.
To which I again say:
LOL
October 20th, 2009 at 2:23 am
[...] GOP State Rep Metcalfe Calls Vets Traitors For Believing In Climate Change — http://www.alan.com/2009/10/19/gop-state-rep-metcalfe-calls-vets-traitors-for-believing-in-climate-c... [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Lib, that’s a lot of information; I’ll try to get to it in time. Until then, quick question [two actually].
1. If polar ice is melting at record pace, would you expect to see the ice extent bigger or smaller as the same time last year? In other words, do you think there is more or less arctic ice Oct 20, 2008 or Oct 20, 2009? Pick any arbitrary dates–then pick 10. See where the ice is larger.
2. Go back in time some. Say 10-15-20 years. Find an alarmist prediction. Say, “Ice free arctic in 10 years.” Then, go see if that prediction has come true.
Or, go back to the late 80’s when the famous hockey stick was introduced, look at his predictions for weather today. Is he close?
At some point, the tarot card reading that alarmists call science has to be right at least once. And failing that, what would it take for you t stop and say “Huh, ya know what? This sounds like it’s true. It MAKES sense. But the data just isn’t there.”
EricG Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
You are the one reading tarot cards instead of reading all the data available on the matter.
There really isn’t much more to sat than that.
All the people in denial are choosing to believe the rantings of some radio-loser instead of reading about The Kyoto Accord and the other studies done that prove this to be true.
–
You want to talk about “alarmism”?
How about lying about a president and his cabinet?
How about drumming up racism and bigotry with a microphone?
How about telling people their is a “mushroom cloud” coming to their house if they don’t bend knee to The Mighty Bush?
–
I think I’ve said it before:
You people make me sick.
–
On one hand you want to reject all facts and all data and just make up your own world.
On the other hand you want to call everyone not buying into your lying bullchit an “alarmist” and a “kook” and a “loon”.
You all smell like fascists to me.
People who hate everyone not exactly like them, sounds about right to me.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 4:06 am
John Galt: “If polar ice is melting at record pace, would you expect to see the ice extent bigger or smaller as the same time last year? In other words, do you think there is more or less arctic ice Oct 20, 2008 or Oct 20, 2009? Pick any arbitrary dates–then pick 10. See where the ice is larger.”
The best comparison for the melting of ARCTIC ice would be in August, John, and in year after year it has shrunk further. That is why Russia, Norway, Japan are trying to stake out claims for resource exploration there, because they know more open water areas continue to appear there each successive summer.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 4:31 am
John Galt: “Go back in time some. Say 10-15-20 years. Find an alarmist prediction. Say, “Ice free arctic in 10 years.” Then, go see if that prediction has come true.”
And I say: If the polar areas continue to show a reduction in ice mass from year-to-year at their respective warmest times (February for the antarctic, and August for the arctic), then the TREND of accelerated warming continues to be confirmed, regardless of whether the arctic ice in summer has disappeared as rapidly as first predicted or not. And, since we’re talking about GLOBAL climate patterns shifting, having a cooler than normal July or October in your neighborhood or getting a blizzard hitting where you’re at this winter does nothing to disprove that rising CO2 levels are affecting climate on a planetwide scale. The polar areas are the places to watch; as they will be most sensitive to a continued trend of increased overall warming.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 4:40 am
“Lib, that’s a lot of information; I’ll try to get to it in time.”
Granted, it’s a lot to throw at you at once, JG, I gotta give you that. Just, please, don’t bother to quote The Heartland Institute to me, because I’ll laugh my @$$ off. I already know about them, and how they are funded by Big Oil. The “science” offered by that Heartland bunch is about as worthless as a truckload of Confederate money.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:23 am
The press release quoted here, with its clumsy syntax and childish ideas, reminds me of Sarah Palin. Right down to “drill, baby, drill”.
How do these paranoid, ignorant, low-IQ, anti-science morons get elected to anything?
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Jasper, I realize that your question is probably rhetorical, but I think the answers are:
1) People who choose to follow a brand of politics based on what they WISH to believe rather than based on the truth don’t need much prodding to keep supporting politicians that mirror their own wishful thinking,
2)Big industry money is usually behind filling the campaign coffers of paranoid, ignorant, low-IQ, anti-science moron candidates, for these candidates make better puppets for them.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:19 am
“How do these paranoid, ignorant, low-IQ, anti-science morons get elected to anything?” LEAVE AL GORE OUT OF THIS!
70’s global cooling….90’s global warming…. 10′ global poverty(Cap and Tax)!
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Antomaino, because some in the science community hypothesized about global cooling in the 70’s does not negate the fact that we have far more information and more sophisticated methods of data collection on climate trends than we had 35+ years ago. And it also does not negate the fact that the overwhelming majority of scientists acknowlege that global warming is happening over the years, and that it is human-caused. And pointing to a failed prediction in one point in time does not discredit the predictions made at a later point in time, after more information has been gathered, and the information-gathering methods have been more refined.
However, the effectiveness of cap-and-trade in terms of combating global warming and in terms of costs is a separate question, and I admit to you that I haven’t done enough reading on the matter to make up my mind yet if it’s the way to go or not.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I’ll say it because people on the left are far too willing to stay silent:
The GOP is full of traitors to the nation and the conservative movement accepts these traitors as their own.
libpatriot Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
PREACH IT, ERIC!
YEAH!
October 20th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I am retired USN. 20 years 6 months and 13 days, over 8000 flight hours. I’m not the smartest man in the world, but I think we need to stop burning everything that will burn, and poisoning the water and air that my grandaughter is going to need to live. I guess I’ll take that display case with my medals in it up to the attic…now that I am a traitor.
Lib Patriot Reply:
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Luv2Lift48, sounds to me like you’re a HERO, both for your unselfish service AND your unselfish stance on protecting our environment!
October 21st, 2009 at 1:22 pm