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U.N. says greenhouse gases reach record high in 2008

Anonymous | 11:16 a.m. Nov. 23, 2009

This on the heals of the global warming scam that was uncovered. Can we believe anything from these scam artists any more?

veedub | 11:50 a.m. Nov. 23, 2009

Strange that it's become obvious even to scientists who support global warming theories that the earth has not warmed significantly during the past decade. Yet greenhouse gases are at an all-time high? Quick, time for damage control! Make up something up to explain this! Could it be that Gore-bal warming will end up on the garbage heap of historical scams along with cold fusion and moon landing denials?

global warming circus | 12:31 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

One of the thousands of emails recently circulated by a whistle blower at the University of East Anglia, where one of the world’s four global-temperature databases is compiled, reveals that data was altered so as to prevent a recent decline in temperature from showing in the record. In fact, there has been no statistically significant “global warming” for 15 years – and there has been rapid and significant cooling for nine years.

Greenhouse gases are actually causing the earth to cool.

It could cause another small ice age.

Global Warming- Science or Religion?

Comments continue below

EPJ | 12:54 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

Wow! I had no idea scientists were monitoring Co2, No2 & methane since 1750!

Bob | 1:53 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

An excellent Internet site with references to many good scientific articles and reveiws regarding climate change is www.friendsofscience.org, which is a Canadian site. I'm a retired applied physicist and have studied this subject over about five years and strongly believe that CO2 based global warming has been greatly exaggerated and is not worth worrying about. We certainly have real pollution problems that need addressing, but CO2 is not a pollutant. Every time we breath out or open a can of soda pop, CO2 is released. Most of us can agree that using foreign oil and having particulate problems here and elsewhere in the US need addressing by using more alternate energy sources - including nuclear.

Religion | 3:41 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

The secularists have to have something to worship.

When I was a kid | 4:24 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

in the late '60s and early '70s in Southern California they were worried about global cooling. When that didn't pan out it was global warming. Now that the climate is cooling again, they're hedging their bet by calling it climate change. We had many days where you couldn't go outside due to the smog. We actually had smog alerts back then. The air was terrible. It is much cleaner now due to the technology instituted back then. It didn't destroy the economy either.
I personally call global warming big business. just ask Al Gore who is making millions off the global warming circuit!! Oh and by the way, he's heavily invested in software to link the new "Green Tech" power to the new grid Obama's working on. Now I call that an "inconvenient truth".

Arizona | 5:06 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

It's all fake. Fake data, fake conclusions, and now Al Gore is so confident that he won't be fact-checked that he doesn't even feel the need to verify the graphics on the cover of his new book, Our Choice. It has hurricanes spinning in the wrong direction, 10,000 ft. tall mountains underwater, and hurricanes on the equator.

Maybe the same team of 11 fact-checkers that worked around-the-clock on Sarah palin's book could work on Al Gore's book. If it isn't too inconvenient to find a little truth, that is.

Dear Bob | 5:49 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

As an applied physicist you must know that CO2 is a threat because it cannot be taken out of the atmosphere as quickly as it's being put in. What is the mechanism? Unlike water and methane, it's stable.

It is a pollutant also. If you have too much of something then it is a pollutant. Pure oxygen is deadly if there is a flame source.

As an applied physicist you must know the physics of the greenhouse effect. It's a fact.

Applied physicist, not likely.

To: Dear Bob | 5:49 p.m. Nov. 2 | 6:00 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

And your education or expertise??? I know...You've read Al Gore's book and stayed at a Holiday Inn!!!!

We definitely need to take care of our environment, but Al Gore's climate change hysteria is just another way of making large amounts of money at the expense of the middle class!!!!

veedub | 6:08 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

@Dear Bob,

Although you speak of C02 as it relates to the greenhouse effect as a fact, you ignore the fact that CO2 is at an all-time high in the atmosphere, yet global warming has been at a stand-still for years. Do you have a scientific explanation for that, which will still allow for man-caused global warming (that you don't have to make up)?

>>Applied physicist, not likely

Oy! | 6:11 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

So many comments - so little sense.

The "uncovered" hacked emails reveal no information - zero - supporting the idea that global warming science is being faked. Taken in the context of how scientists discuss methods for normalizing data, the "scandal" emails prove to be a fantasy.

The past ten years contain most of the hottest years on record during the past several hundred years. There is no genuine cooling trend, just normal background noise in the long-term signal.

There never was a scientific consensus in the 70's about global cooling. That's a fabrication - check with the American Meteorological Society.

It's absolutely possible to accurately measure the amounts of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere for hundreds of years into the past. It's called science. Learn it.

Even if every scientific paper on the subject of anthropogenic global warming published prior to today vanished, it'd be only a couple of years before an equivalent amount was obtained - the research is moving that fast.

Please, let's have a little respect for the intelligence and integrity of the thousands of professional scientists working on this issue - OK?

Or not - that seems to be the way you guys roll.

RE: Oy! | 6:11 p.m. Nov. 23, 200 | 6:40 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

'There never was a scientific consensus in the 70's about global cooling. That's a fabrication - check with the American Meteorological Society."

Much like there is no real scientific consensus about global warming.

I taught in the '70s and it was part of the curriculum to teach about the possibility of global cooling!!!! This was a major discussion while attending college. By the way I went to Stanford so it wasn't the left wing of science that Berkeley was teaching!!!
So don't tell me that global cooling wasn't the band wagon of the day!!! You were probably not even a dream of your parents then!!!!

Don't worry about it! | 7:32 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

The world is going to end in 2012 anyways!!! Haven't you read?

Anonymous | 10:01 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

"In the late '60s and early '70s in Southern California they were worried about global cooling."

This comment scares me. The global cooling idea from the seventies never got any traction. I was a geography major at this time. I first heard about CO2 and the green house effect.

What scares me is, this person would step on a snake, if it was under his feet. Global cooling proves another point. We educated in science, don't bring global cooling today, because it failed peer review.

What really infers ignorance, is this person seems to have missed the advance in computer, satellite, telemetry and other technologies. In the seventies TV's had cathode ray tubes, computers used punch cards and there weas no Internet. This person seems to not see any difference in the technology used in the seventies and what we have today.

You wonder why conservatives look stupid to us liberals?

Chicken Little | 10:08 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

We're going to DIE! - Oh, that's already a given.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Here's the deal. Make good choices in the way that you eat, shop, plant, save, share - and you can feel better about the catastrophes that lie ahead.

Cindy | 10:23 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

One thing I find interesting, is that people are surprised that the climate is getting warmer. For around 400 years, we were in The Little Ice Age. This ended around 1850. This is a fact and not made up. There were a few years when volcanos erupted, guess what? Those years had no summers. If you are really after the truth, you can google both The Little Ice Age and The Medieval Optimum. Wake up, climate change is natural and 1000 years ago it was warmer with very little problems and a lot more better climate and better for crops.

Anonymous | 10:46 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

Veebub,

Global warming is not at a standstill. The planet is getting hotter. The glaciers are melting. In 50 years there will be no ice at the north pole.

RE: Anonymous | 10:01 p.m. Nov. | 11:02 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

"You wonder why conservatives look stupid to us liberals? "

Maybe it's because you're looking in the mirror.

So what is it? Global warming or global cooling. You can't have it both ways. Either we're going into another ice age or we're heating up to the point that the ice caps melt and we no longer have rainfall and cannot sustain life. Which one is it????? The earth has been cooling for the last 2 decades so my guess it isn't global warming anymore. And yes I have looked at the models, just not the ones that Al Gore wants you to see. You know, the fictitious ones with the polar bears being decimated even though their population has increase two fold!!
Your arguments always change to fit the situation.
Once confronted with facts, you switch to personal attacks.
Ever wonder why liberals look stupid to conservatives?

Verlo | 11:20 p.m. Nov. 23, 2009

Montana had its coldest October in 30 years.

A Titanic Problem | 12:40 a.m. Nov. 24, 2009

Wellington, New Zealand — A maritime warning was issued today after at least 100 icebergs were spotted floating towards New Zealand.

Orion captain Andy Nielsen told The Associated Press, the largest iceberg is reported to be about 1.2 by 0.9 miles and more than 425 feet high and are floating in a major ocean shipping lane.

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