Global warming - a big, healthy dose of reality here:

[badbullgator]

You are so stupid, you are getting all that cold weather and sleet because we are warming

BTW record cold temps here just not in recorded history

Well just after I posted I figured out that the manatees are dying because all the ice caps are melting and the cold water is coming down here. Duh! what was I thinking. I have to go out now and pull up my lawn so I have a nice sandy beach when the water come into my front yard with the rising seas

[Pals]

The carbon credit program is a big joke. Paying for landowners to save carbon by planting grasses, trees and no tilling. Something they already do anyway and are getting government program payments for thru CRP or other conservation programs(double dipping anyone?)-just so someone producing carbon can 'trade' carbon credits--instead of practicing sound conservation practices themselves. I hope it eases their hypocritcal minds.
I've had to sign up farmers here in central Illinois(I vehemently protested, BTW-now they do it on their own) It was the most poorly run excuse of a program I've seen in a long time, and I've seen some doozies.

NOTE: They don't pay for planting new stuff, only existing stuff in CRP programs. How dumb is that?

Makes about as much sense as the current wetland mitigation laws, destroy a bog in northern Illinois and put in a manmade floodplain riparian wetland in southern Illinois. STUPID, stupid, stupid.

[dnf777]

Ok so global warming is killing the polar bears by melting the ice caps and at the same time Florida had record manatee deaths due to cold water..... So do we save the polar bears with cap and trade at the expence of the manatees? Making it cooler for the polar bears also means cooler for us down here and thus more manatee deaths. I am pretty sure there are fewer manatees than polar bears.
I know dnf will like this "redneck" comment, but we have had 6 days in a row with temps in the 30's here in S Florida. This has NEVER happened in my 45 years AND the weatherman said this morning that conditions MAY be right for SLEET on Saturday. Freaking SLEET in S.W. Florida!

Hey, I'm PROUD of my redneck, you should be too!
None of this cold spell has anything to do with long-term gobal warming. It's like finding a nickel in my sofa cushion and thinking my financial situation has changed. Everything that happens in our lifetime is a piss in the ocean, let alone a two week cold spell. I'm not buying Al Gore's version, but I don't think it would be prudent to dismiss our impact of the planet just because some strawberries got frosted in Florida.

[Steve Amrein]

Hey, I'm PROUD of my redneck, you should be too!
None of this cold spell has anything to do with long-term gobal warming. It's like finding a nickel in my sofa cushion and thinking my financial situation has changed. Everything that happens in our lifetime is a piss in the ocean, let alone a two week cold spell. I'm not buying Al Gore's version, but I don't think it would be prudent to dismiss our impact of the planet just because some strawberries got frosted in Florida.

Algore and the Cap and traders say the ice cap will be gone in ten years.

[dnf777]

Algore and the Cap and traders say the ice cap will be gone in ten years.

Well, when you look at the satellite pictures trending over the past years, it will be. Whether or not that's due to man's impact, and if so, what is the significance....those are the questions.

[ducknwork]

I have no issue with your disagreement with cap and trade (which I suspect has zero chance of passage anyway). I simply find it interesting when it is criticized as a decision being made in haste. Cap and trade has been on the table as a proposal for many years. It was rejected by the prior administration and supported by the current one. From an economic perspective, it is actually one of the more rational possibilities since it assigns a cost to pollution and then lets market forces determine how much pollution will continue because it is worth paying the cost. What is irrational is our current approach which assigns a zero cost to pollution.

Do you seriously believe that there is no negative effect to pollution of the air? If there is a negative effect, why should it not be incorporated into the price? Why should those causing the pollution through their consumption and production decisions (including me) be getting a free ride at the expense of those who prefer our air in a more natural form? As an asthmatic, I can honestly say that pollution from car exhausts costs me between $1-5000 per year. That is an air pollution tax that I pay. Why shouldn't some or all of that cost be included in the cost of pollutants?

I never said that pollution has no negative impact and I don't think I implied it either. I find it extremely difficult to believe that this global 'warming' is due to humans alone. If scientists can do research and see how the temperature of the earth has fluctuated throughout time, how can they now unquestionably say that the current fluctuation is more than just a natural occurrence? I'm not buying it. We may be a small factor that has something to do with it, but I seriously doubt we are CAUSING it.

What is irrational is thinking of the jump in my electric bill that will occur if we are 'punished' with legislation meant to force us to reduce energy consumption. What is an ordinary working family supposed to do? My heat is on 68 during the day (my wife stays home with the babies) and 64 at night. It's been in the 20's at night for over a week straight. I am scared of what my electric bill is going to be. At night and when I get up for work, it's freaking cold in my house, but we are trying to save money where ever possible. And then some rich politician with no clue what real life is like is going to add MORE taxes to my electric bill because I am being wasteful? All that is going to do is force me to cut back on money spent elsewhere, further damaging the economy. Perhaps 'in haste' was not a great term to use. Maybe I should have said 'in poor taste' or 'stupid' instead. So yeah, let's start charging people extra for necessary living expenses during a time when many people are already struggling to get by at the current cost of living. That doesn't sound irrational at all.

I guess next year I should have the heat pump removed from my house and invest in snuggies for everyone in my family. At least then, we will still be able to afford to buy groceries.

[Henry V]

More reality at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...ef=online-news

[Terry Britton]

But Henry, the ICE on Antarctica has grown 4.7%. They ignore the forest and look at one tree. THey tend to ignore all of the Glaciers that are growing. Then they can't explain why some Glaciers are shrinking at the same time he temperatures on the Glaciers never get close to thawing temperature, which is due to solar radiation rather than green house gasses. Green house gasses such as h2o vaper would actually protect glaciers from solar radiation.

http://www.iceagenow.com/Growing_Glaciers.htm

[Henry V]

Terry, it is interesting that you apparently take comfort in statements in the article you linked to like:

New ground measurements by the West Antarctic GPS Network (WAGN) project suggest the rate of ice loss of the West Antarctic ice sheet has been slightly overestimated, says this article in Science Daily.
and
"Our work suggests that while West Antarctica is still losing significant amounts of ice, the loss appears to be slightly slower than some recent estimates," said Ian Dalziel, lead principal investigator for WAGN"

Regarding "all the glaciers that are growing". You may want revise your view that I am the one that can't see the forest for the trees. First, the mass balance from a bunch of glaciers throughout the world. The trees that you seem to be paying attention to are those few bars sticking out on the right.

and then a worldwide summary

Both from http://www.skepticalscience.com/hima...rs-growing.htmwhere they say:

When you narrowly focus on a few cherry picked glaciers, you can be misled into an incorrect view of global glacier trends. When you take in the broader picture, you see that globally, glaciers are shrinking at an accelerating rate.

I know, I know, probably just more lies with statistics and an extension of the hoax instigated by those darn European unions.

[brandywinelabs]

Thats, um, 7 yr old data. Now I don't have it but, supposedly the glaciers and ice caps are growing again. And recent year7 are showing a downward trend in the avg global temp. Heck they have trended down since the ice age too.