In an online conversation about subjects for future radio shows, a friend of mine said: “I like Al Gore‘s effort on climate.” I suppose he’s not wrong about liking Al Gore’s effort, but the results of his efforts are what really matter.

I’m not so confident about the positive effect of Global Warming policies. Not only does it look like global warming has reversed in the last 7 years, with a 0.7 degree C drop in the last year alone, but NASA scientists are now warning that we may be entering another mini-ice age. The culprit? The sun.

But I digress, back to Al Gore’s struggle for money, force and attention. He’s got the United States burning its food, and the UK has been fast on our footsteps. Our food prices have risen. For the first time in 250 years, we are a net importer of wheat. And the crisis isn’t just here in the US.

It has become evident recently that the US’s policies have been causing death and chaos around the world:

• As Food Riots Break Out Across the Globe, Raj Patel Details “The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
• UN announces food crisis taskforce
• Food riots rock Yeme
• Government falls after Food Riot

The typical “knee-jerk” reaction by the government to perceived problems always causes severe problems — in this case world-wide! It’s hurting the poorest the most. We’ve got to get over ourselves. The price and arrogance expressed by those who know better than everyone else, who are passing destructive laws and policies need to leave their ego at the door and start representing the people of this country and start considering global implications.

The United States, whose food prices have risen as much as 300% in some areas for some staples, can potentially afford Al Gore’s policies. However, the US is now competing with other country’s for the world’s food supplies, and other countries just can’t afford food

For the first time in history, the United States is now a net importer of wheat. That means we’re buying it on the open market and are starving people in the third world who can’t afford the new, higher prices. Even Singapore is affected:

• Singapore Hit by High Food Costs — Providing Inexpensive Meals for All

A three decade high for food costs, and they’re continuing to going up.

Hundreds of years of technology has shown that we can never predict the next major change in technology. We didn’t predict steam power, diesel power, electric power, nuclear power, gasoline power or even wind power.

How can the government predict that Ethanol or Hydrogen is the correct solution? They can’t. Yet, they use our money and their guns to force us to do what they want us to do. Why?

Obviously for money, power and control.

My discussion with Dr. Singer shows how the global warming industry are creating more money for themselves and are pushing the facts aside. (Listen to my interview here.) It is true that very moderate warming has occurred, but much of it is due to natural causes and is therefore almost unstoppable and changes in environmental policy will just impact our economy and have little or no effect on global warming.

1. Why is global warming (GW) so much less than greenhouse (GH) models calculate?
2. Is GW natural or manmade? If natural, then GW is unstoppable and CO2 is irrelevant
3. All policies to control CO2 are then useless–but very costly
4. Economic impact of biofuels, of wind/solar, carbon sequestration
5. Cap-and-Trade raises energy costs and hurts economic growth
6. What really drives the Global Warmers?

S. Fred Singer – A biography

Dr. S. Fred Singer is Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

He received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. Dr. Singer has served as Vice Chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmospheres; Chief Scientist for the U. S. Department of Transportation; Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency; Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U. S. Department of the Interior; Dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences, University of Miami; (First) Director of the U. S. Weather Satellite Center; Director of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Maryland; and Research Physicist, Upper Atmospheric Rocket Program, Johns Hopkins University.

He has also been a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; National Air and Space Museum; Lyndon Baines Johnson School for Public Affairs, University of Texas; and the Soviet Academy of Sciences Institute for Physics of the Earth. He is the recipient of the White House Special Commendation, Gold Medal Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, (First) Science Award from the British Interplanetary Society, and Honorary Doctorate from Ohio State University.

Dr. Singer is the author or editor of fourteen books on climate science, energy, and environmental issues as well as the author of over 400 articles in scientific and public policy journals plus over 200 articles in popular publications, Dr. Singer has been featured in articles in Time, Life, and U. S. News & World Report, and he has been interviewed on Nightline, Today Show, News Hour, Nightwatch, and other national and international television programs.

Professor S. Fred Singer is the author of “Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate,” published by the Independent Institute, a nonpartisan public-policy think-tank based in Oakland, California. He is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, and has served as Vice Chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmospheres. He was also the first Director of the U. S. Weather Satellite Center. Prof. Singer’s latest book is “Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years,” cowritten with Dennis Avery.

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Prof. White says that we may be in for an abrupt climate change, which is when the climate system shifts modes very rapidly (in a few years), by large amounts (5 to 10 degrees C annual temperature, doubling or halving of precipitation, etc.). This type of change is particularly scary, as it is unpredictable and potentially devastating.

The timing of thresholds are hard to predict. Arctic sea ice extents dropped dramatically this past year, for example. Models can predict that change, but not the exact timing.

Is there anything we can do to prepare for abrupt climate change?

The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air has a direct affect on the amount of warming our planet experiences.

• At 380 ppm CO2, we are 100 ppm above the preindustrial level.
• 100 ppm is the difference we see in ice cores over the past 1 million years between glacial periods and interglacial periods.
• The climate system has inherent inertia, and thus most of the response to this increase in greenhouse gases is yet to come.
• Increased levels of greenhouse gases will change climate. This is simple physics, and not a matter of scientific debate.
• Quantifying feedbacks are key to understanding our future. Small changes in greenhouse gases can cause warming that trigger sea ice melt that in turn trigger much more warming as blue water replaces reflective, white ice.
• Climate change from greenhouse gases is only one measure of human impacts on the planet. We make as much nitrogen fertilizer as all bacteria in the world.
• We produce as much sulfate (a cooling aerosol that is a major cloud condensing nucleus) as all phytoplankton in the ocean.
• We have power, we have the domination we’ve long sought… but now we need to accept the responsibility that comes with that power. Its time to mature and start doing that.

Have we already exceeded a level of increased greenhouse gases that will ultimately result in large increases in sea level (many meters), rainfall patterns, temperatures, and other parts of the climate system? The past would tell us yes.James White – A biography

James White is a Fellow and Interim Director of INSTAAR; Professor of Geological Sciences, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder.

James has started the INSTAAR Stable Isotope Lab in 1989. In recent years, his research has helped to show that large climate changes tend to occur in the natural system as abrupt and rapid shifts in mode probably driven by internal adjustments in the Earth climate system, rather than slow and gradual adjustments to changing external conditions, such as the amount of energy received from the sun.

His research has also helped to show that land plants are capable of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, amounts that equal our input of CO2 from fossil fuel burning on short time scales. Such large changes in the uptake of CO2 by plants is a key piece in the puzzle we must solve to address future CO2 levels and climate change.

James has written following research papers and also been a contributor of number of publications

• Global scale climate and environmental dynamics.
• Carbon dioxide concentrations and climate from stable hydrogen isotopes peats and other organics.
• Climate from deuterium excess and hydrogen isotopes in ice cores.
• Isotopes in general circulation models.
• Modern carbon cycle dynamics via isotopes of carbon dioxide and methane.

Listen Here

Anthony Watts of www.surfacestations.org has a big piece of data to share. 30% of the weather stations here in the United States are flawed. Click on the picture on the right to see a station in Forest Grove, OR with an air conditioner exhaust blowing directly on the temperature shelter, with nearby asphalt and buildings — and this isn’t the worst offender. To see for yourself just how bad the science is, check out these links:

• More than 500 Stations Now Surveyed
• How Not to Measure Temperature
• Adjustments to the surface temperature records are making the problem worse.
• How not to measure temperature part 2
  
• Temperatures in the past 10 years have not risen globally
• Temperatures have dropped signifcantly in the past year
• Hurricanes and Global Warming are not linked after all, NOAA says so in new press release and study.
• Some leading scientists are now questioning AGW where before they were afraid to speak out

Anthony Watts – A biography

He’s a former television meteorologist who spent 25 years on the air and who also operates a weather technology and content business, as well as continues daily forecasting on radio, just for fun.

Weather measurement and weather presentation technology his specialty. He also provides weather stations and custom weather monitoring solutions via www.weathershop.com (if you like his work, please consider buying a weather gadget there, StormPredator for example) and www.tempelert.com, and turn key weather channels with advertising at www.viziframe.com The weather graphics you see in the lower right corner of the blog are produced by his company, IntelliWeather.

While he has a skeptical view of certain issues, he considers himself “green” in many ways, and he promotes the idea of energy savings and alternate energy generation. Unlike many who just talk about it, he’s put a 10KW solar array on his home, plus a 125 KW solar array on one of his local schools when he was a school trustee. He’s retrofitted his home with CFL’s and better insulation, as well as installed timer switches on many of his most commonly used lights. He encourages others to do the same.

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