On January 18, 2012, NASA released a Global Surface Temperature Analysis. It is authored by Jim Hansen, who has been one of the lead mad-made global warming proponents. The paper is full of charts and graphs and statistical analysis, but the conclusion can be summarized by the following quote:
Thus, although the current global warming graphs (Figs. 2, 3 and the upper part of Fig. 7) are suggestive of a slowdown in global warming, this apparent slowdown may largely disappear as a few more years of data are added. In particular we need to see how high global temperature rises in response to the next El Niño, and we also need to consider the effect of the 10-12 year cycle of solar irradiance. This raises the question of when the next El Niño will occur and the status of the solar cycle.
Remember, this document is written by someone whose entire livelihood and reputation is tied to man-made global warming being true. So, let me restate the pro-global warming position as described in this paragraph… Global Warming has stopped (aka “apparently slowed down”), but we need to wait a few more years in hopes that it will have started again (aka don’t cut my budget, warming will come back, I hope!)
What is really causing the largest component of the slight warming seen over the last 60 years? How about the last comment: “status of the solar cycle”? According to multiple sources, including NASA, analysis of the Sun’s interior, visible surface and corona imply that the Sun’s next solar cycle will be significantly reduced, or may not even appear at all. From the Met Office of the British Government October 2011 research report:
The study, carried out with Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, shows that low UV output from the sun can contribute to cold winters over parts of the northern hemisphere, such as recently seen in the UK. Years of higher UV have the opposite effect.
Let me restate this paragraph, too…
Sun is dim, earth is cold
Sun is bright, earth is hot
You might have experienced this yourself. Go to Florida in August, it is hot. Go to Alaska in February, it is cold. Thank goodness the British taxpayer paid for this research and not me. What would we do without scientists…
Furthermore, according to the Met, there is a 92% chance that we could be entering a period as cold as the ‘Dalton Minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. During this period, temperatures in Europe fell 2 degrees celsius.
So, back to Global Warmist, Jim Hansen and his paper… Global warming stopped 15 years ago, and he is hoping that the Sun will heat things up again before he looks like a fool.
I have long held the position that carbon dioxide has an impact on climate. However, I have long disagreed with the Global Warmists that CO2 is a major force — I have argued that it is the Sun — which makes a heck of a lot of logical sense. Unfortunately, we have allowed these zealots to drive wacky public policy choices — like those here in Delaware. We have spent tens of millions of dollars on a fairy tale pulling productive money out of the economy to fund venture capital backed entities like Fiskar Automotive and Bloom Energy with taxpayer money. Crony capitalism at its worse.
You’d think that after 15 years, our policy makers would get it. But, they don’t.
To invert the argument, what if I’m wrong and warming is all about carbon? China is firing up about 1 coal fired power plant every week as it tries to pull 600 million people out of abject poverty (earnings of less than $2 a day). They don’t care about warming, they care about eating. India is in a similar place. Brazil, Nigeria & Indonesia are all in similar straights. Their impact will be much larger than the 900,000 residents of Delaware. So, our public policy choices are foolish in that we are making our citizens suffer high unemployment and a stagnant standard of living for absolutely no impact.
I’m never sure what the point is with the anti-Bloom energy or anti-hybrid car movement. Should forget about new ways of powering our economy? Just use gas coal oil, forget about all the new fangled stuff? I don’t see how the GOP can be seen as forward looking when they insist on defending status quo when it comes to energy. Bloom, Volt, Fisker. All the cutting edge stuff is the enemy.
Macro economists all tell us that new bursts of economic prosperity are driven by breakthrough new technology. History is clear. Staying with the status quo – be it energy, communications, manufacturing, farming or anything else – the status quo gets stagnant. It’s the new frontiers that make for new prosperity. What better new frontier to explore than alternative energy? The global warming part is only a small component of what’s up here. I don’t care much about global warming but Bloom and Fisker and Volt. Very cool.
History does teach many lessons — private enterprise and individual efforts lead to breakthrough technology. Microsoft, Ford, Edison, Apple, Carnegie Steel, Alexander Bell, Wallace Caruthers. etc. etc. Has Government financed some incremental improvements? Of course. But the game changers that have defined 225 years of American exceptionalism all come from private, individual initiative.
That is why Bloom & Fiskars will fail. Sadly. I wish them to be successful. However, history is the guide.
Needless to say, the point of the post is the direct evidence of no warming for the last 15 years. It would be novel if Mr. Holt would stay on point once in a while.
Well it’s February and my heat is off if that means anything.
Global warming worries me about the same as an asteroid hitting earth – not much – but, it’s foolish to think 7 billion people blowing smoke doesn’t change earth’s atmosphere. By 2050 it will be 11 billion people. Tracking the consequences, looking for cleaner greener is not something conservatives should be against. The only reason the GOP is so obsessively anti-global warming has nothing to do with science or the earth. It’s because global warming is associated with “liberals” and liberals are bad.
I’m never sure what the point is with the anti-Bloom energy or anti-hybrid car movement.
I’m not ‘anti-hybrid.’ I’m anti-government-funded-hybrid.
As we have seen, the highly-touted Chevy Volt is a total flop- 8,000 units sold.
To survive in the car business, you have to build what people actually want, not what Omaba says they should want.