WASHINGTON -- If you are going out anytime over the next few
months, may I suggest that you wear a hat? You might even buy
earmuffs. We are experiencing yet another cold winter. Al Gore
may believe in global warming, but I suggest that he have a word
with his fellow environmental catastrophists at the UK's Hadley
Centre for Climate Predictions. Since the end of 1998 global
warming has ceased. In fact, it is getting colder out there. Two
thousand eight was possibly the coldest year of this young
century. Over the last two years temperatures have dropped by
more than 0.5 degrees Celsius -- brrrr.
The reason I mention Al's co-religionists at the Hadley Centre is
that they have come to realize that computer projections of
global warming have been wrong. Carbon dioxide levels have indeed
increased but not temperatures. So bundle up, Al. Last year, in
many parts of the world, snowfalls reached levels not seen in
decades. The Associated Press recently shrieked that global
warming "is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama
can't avoid," but the facts are otherwise. The computer models
that have predicted global warming have failed just as the
computer models that predicted very few financial losses for the
insurance industry from credit default swaps (CDSs) failed.
Christopher Booker, writing in London's Daily Telegraph,
observes that "2008 was the year man-made global warming was
disproved." I am not sure I would go that far, but I do believe
that the so-called consensus that the catastrophists claim exists
among scientists has frayed, and it may be years before we know
if global warming is long-range or what causes it. It may be
caused by humans, but it may also be caused by natural activity
on the sun.
From the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization has come a
very interesting book of essays that displays the diverse views
of some very serious scientific minds. One contributor, Richard
Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences at MIT, raises the
question: "Is the Global Warming Alarm Founded on Fact?" He
acknowledges that over the decades there has been some global
warming but argues that the predictions of catastrophe are
greatly exaggerated. "Actual observations suggest that the
sensitivity of the real climate is much less than that found in
computer models whose sensitivity depends on processes that are
clearly misrepresented."
Then there is Freeman Dyson, who in the June 12, 2008 issue of
the New York Review of Books writes very calmly about
global warming. He assures us that "genetically engineered
carbon-eating trees" are just around the corner, likely to be
developed in twenty years, certain to be developed in fifty
years. What is so promising about genetically engineered
carbon-eating trees? Writes Dyson: "Carbon-eating trees could
convert most of the carbon that they absorb from the atmosphere
into some chemically stable form and bury it underground. Or they
could convert the carbon into liquid fuels and other useful
chemicals."
So relax. Our future is in the trees -- genetically engineered
carbon eating trees. Frigid winters are on the return. Al Gore's
next new thing will be the common cold. It is rather amazing to
think of how he and the catastrophists whipped up hysteria
worldwide. One wonders what their next fear will be, carnivorous
trees?
topics:
Global Warming
