How many of these facts are actually true?
1. National scientific advisers (such as the National Academy of Sciences) depend on climate change research funding to stay in operation
2. During most of the past 2,000 years, the temp has been about the same or higher. Currently, we are barely over the average for the last 2,000 years.
3. During the medieval warm period (820 – 1040 AD), Greenland supported farming. Those areas previously farmed are now covered in glaciers. Obviously the melting and reformation of glaciers is a cyclical occurrence.
4. The earth experienced a little ice age which ended around the late 1860's or so. This is about the time man started recording temperatures. This would be like measuring a lake depth after a severe drought, then worrying about it flooding as it rose to normal levels.
5. The earth has been warming for the last 18,000 years, since the last major glacier time period. During this time frame, the glaciers have been melting at a fairly consistent rate. Also, for most of the last 1 billion years, the earth had NO glaciers or ice coverage.
http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/ice_ages/
6. The AGW theory states that CO2 is the primary driver of temperature. They arrived at this idea because they did not know of anything else which could cause it. But during the 70's and during the current decade, temperatures dropped while CO2 continued to rise. This means that natural occurrences are driving temp, not CO2.
6. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation and sun spots provides a much better correlation to earths' temperature than CO2 levels ever have. (Do the references say that decadal oscillations and sunspots provide a better correlation than CO2?)
7. Polar Bears are experiencing a population boom. Coke sales in the arctics are through the roof. Polar Bears have been around for thousands of years, and remember, we are only at the average for the last 2,000 years. They lived through all the previously warmer climates. The original picture of 2 bears on a floating ice block was a complete scam. The photographer explained that the bears were in no danger and close to shore. The picture was lifted from a public PC by another passenger and sent around the world. (Does this mean they are safe when their habitat disappears?)
8. Many glaciers are expanding. Even Antarctica is growing on 98% of is land mass. Only 2% is melting.
9. There is no consensus on AGW. This was a lie that has been propagated by the media.
10. Yes we emit CO2 into the atmosphere and it is a greenhouse gas, but, we only contribute about .28% of all the greenhouse effect. Water vapor makes up about 95% of the greenhouse effect. CO2 and other trace gases round out the greenhouse gases at about 5% for all of them. Of that 5%, only 3% is CO2, and most of that is natural. Again, our contribution to the greenhouse effect is a paltry .28%
11. The spread of disease is not attributed mainly to temperature. If this were the case, Florida would be a giant festering disease ridden cesspool. Economic standing is the primary determining factor in the spread of disease. Poor cultures can not fight the disease or eradicate the pests like more successful nations.
12. Natural climate disasters (hurricanes, cyclones, etc) have never been scientifically linked to global warming (whether natural or man made).
1. Not true and just a sad rejigging of the scientists are in it for the money myth
2. Data from multiple sources show this is not true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2000_Year_Temperature_Comparison.png
3. Easily proved not true, the areas the vikings lived in during MWP were on the South and South West coast these areas are still ice free with modern settlements in the same areas.
4. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11645
5. Talking about what happened 1 billion years ago is pointless given periods of significantly higher volcanic activity and Co2 of 10 times current levels, and Earth warming for the last 18,000 years is also not true, there was a warming which ended the last ice age 10,000 years ago the mean of this graph show a slight downward trend from around 8000 years ago.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holocene_Temperature_Variations.png
6. PDO, ElNino and Solar activity have and do act on climate the first two are probably responsible for the periodic drops that can be seen in the long term temperature record
7. Given that polar bears hunt there main prey from ice, shrink polar ice will affect them, they have to hunt seals from ice because, yes they are good swimmers but seals are much better. The current state of their number is thought to be "Of the 19 recognized polar bear subpopulations, 5 are declining, 5 are stable, 2 are increasing, and 7 have insufficient data" hardly a population explosion given the large number of seals and the fact that as a large hunting animal they have few humans to deal with, which has been a problem for other large hunting animals like lions whose numbers are done to below 50,000 and their numbers are thought to be nearing endangered, there are ~25,000 Polar Bears, half the number of Lions
8. Red and orange is shrinking Blue is growing (not much blue to be seen)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Glacier_Mass_Balance_Map.png
9. Laughably not true, although I sure Heartland will say otherwise
10. true for a change, of course without the 95% H20 we would be 30c colder compared to the relative small effect of the added co2 which is so far ~0.6c
11. Possible true (if you are an American) but if you live in current cooler areas of Eastern Europe or Northern Asia or Southern Africa were mosquito's are currently controlled/limited by cooler winters you might feel a little different.
12. The actual theory is that they will cause an increase in the long term (the next hundred years) so it's to early to say. There is some media hype and what seems to be deniers saying "you predicted this last Tuesday were are all the hurricanes"
Posted in pacific frames | 15 Comments »