The Wrath of Global Warming Skeptics (or Who Cares if Kids Get Asthma?)

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as © 2007, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein. Find any typos? Please let me know.

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Source: http://www.achooallergy.com/images/environment-global-warming.jpg accessed 8 June 2008.
Well, if you'd like to read a newspaper article (opinion?) that show some of the venom that is spewed by global warming skeptics (and I assume global warming alarmists (and I use "alarmist" in the sense that someone ought to be sounding the alarm bells)), see http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23819969-5007146,00.html. I'm not sure how much time I should take tracking down the 31,000 "scientists" who signed what must have been a mile-long petition saying "Na, na, na, na, na-a-a-a. The troposphere is cooling!" Hmmmm.... To the average citizen, what does cooling of the troposphere mean? Could it be that radiational cooling from the earth is actually redirecting heat back down upon us, and a cooling of the troposphere might actually mean the earth on which we live is warming? I have a Ph.D. and can be considered a scientist. Does it count if I sign a document saying "Yikes! Global warming is happening and faster than any models have predicted!"

This is where I need some punches from readers who think the 90s and 100s already occurring in the U.S. this spring are, once again, coincidences having nothing to do with 2007 being the hottest year on record and 2008 on track to beat it. How long can these coincidences be laughed off as phenomena like the reported cooling of the troposphere and what is has to do with global warming at the surface?

Tropospheric scientists with degrees from accredited universities unite! What is the answer? WAIT! A Google search on ' cooling troposphere ' (no apostrophes) brings this first result: A cooling troposphere and global warming can co-exist
Contact: James E. Rickman, elvis@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9203

Son of a gun! And I was just jabbing at the mean-spirited newspaper article cited above. And what do you know! My simplistic counter-attack may have merit! This continues to be the problem: more smoke from the "What, me worry?" call it climate change crowd. I have a new campaign I want to start hitting hard. If global warming skeptics are right, and I'd like the truth either way, why in the world would they not want to attack air pollution regardless? Don't believe in global warming, why not focus on the rapidly growing problem childhood asthma? Forget global warming, focus on pollution and explain why it's some kind of blessing in disquise that our children are breathing dirty air and are paying the price in lung disease. What am I missing?
Source: United States Centers for Disease Control from http://dynamicmt.com/asthma%20growth.jpg accessed 8 June 2008.

Skeptics, do you really want to be on the side of those who don't give a damn about asthma? Skeptics with asthma, would you wish your asthma on anyone else?

Liberal (Explicitly Stated) Bias: The Paragraph

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as © 2007, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein. Find any typos? Please let me know.

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About
The Paragraph stands:

[Bloggger's Note: It was simple to discern the stated bias of this site. The great question so difficult to answer is does one "side" or the other hold a monopoly on being forthcoming about who they are?]

For science; Against ignorance.
For factual reporting; Against poisonous propaganda.
For freedom; Against oppression.
For public service; Against corruption.
For democracy – open government of, by and for the people; Against fascism – authoritarian government of, by and for the corporations.
For care of the Earth; Against spoiling the Earth.

Unless otherwise noted, all posted articles are written by Quinn Hungeski, a member of the Guerrilla News Network. All articles are also posted at the Guerrilla News Network. Iraq articles are also posted at the Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus. Excerpts are posted at NowPublic and LeftWord. Articles are fed to ImpeachPAC Impeachment Blogging.



The Paragraph is based in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.

General Electric Claims CO2 "A Possible" Factor in Global Warming

The site above is satire from The DeSmog Project, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace USA.

The following is a direct quote:

Despite all its green advertising claims, behind the scenes General Electric remains skeptical about the role of carbon dioxide in driving climate change. A May 28th GE press release announcing a new "clean coal" initiative states only that "CO2 is a possible contributing factor to climate change."

GE's multi-million dollar "Ecomagination" ad campaign paints the company as a concerned environmental steward and GE belongs to a growing coalition of companies calling for federal action on climate change. Kevin Grandia, the managing editor of a new collaborative web effort by several environmental groups to debunk the myth of "clean coal," noticed the GE press release and pointed to the inconsistency between the skeptical line in the release and GE's widely-publicized ads and public statements on climate change. Grandia notes that "considering the major marketing effort GE has undertaken to paint itself as a leader on reducing greenhouse gas emissions...[w]hy so much investment by GE in something they only see as a possibility?"

General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt admitted to Forbes magazine in 2005 that the company's lofty "Ecomagination" campaign is little more than a sales pitch. "It's primarily that," Immelt said. "In its essence it's a way to sell more products and services."

In order to confront similar greenwashing by the coal industry, environmental groups including The DeSmog Project, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace USA launched a new website http://www.coal-is-clean.com/ to shatter the coal industry's "clean coal" myth by mocking the lengths the coal industry will go to portray coal as clean. A companion site http://www.coal-is-dirty.com/ explains the actual impacts of coal mining and burning.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-brendan-demelle/unearthed-news-of-the-wee_b_105693.html accessed 8 June 2008.

Searching for Extreme Weather

record event report
National Weather Service
Grand Rapids, Michigan
0134 am EDT Sat June 07 2008... Record high low temperature at Grand Rapids on June 6th...

[Scroll down]

And the [Indiana] Governor worries it may not be the last blow. He said more rain, especially in the northern part of the state, could lead to even more flooding.

Source: wunderground.com

"Again, if more water comes down from north, we may have not seen the worst of it," Governor Daniels said.
Daniels spelled out what the state is doing to respond. He said the state of emergency declarations will help things happen more quickly.
"I wanted to make certain that if swift action's necessary to protect life or property that it happens on the fastest possible schedule," Governor Daniels said.
The Governor's Director of Homeland Security, Joe Wainscott, said this is some of the worst flooding he's ever witnessed.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8447421&nav=menu35_2



A record high low temperature of 74 degrees was recored at Grand Rapids yesterday... June 6th.
The previous record high low temperature for June 6th was 72 set in both 1999 and in 1925.
Based on Grand Rapids records back to 1892... there has not been a day with a warmer low temperature earlier in the season. The low has been as warm as 74 degrees earlier than this twice... on June 1st 1934 and June 5th 1925.

While individual anomalies like this will occur, the question is if all of them were collected each day, would this represent a trend toward extreme weather? Note that extremes of all kind including cold are the result of global warming. Does such a collection exist?