December 9, 2009

Are we warming, or cooling?

Al Gore talks to Slate.  Walter Williams, "We've been Had."  Also, competing historical temperature charts, one from the 1990 IPCC and one from Al Gore.

Geologist Dr. David Gee, chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress, currently at Uppsala University in Sweden asks, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?"

The reason it's difficult to say whether we are warming or cooling is because there is no such thing as a "Global Temperature" -- it's like looking at temperatures in Fort Wayne and temperatures in Fort Worth and trying to decide which is correct.  The range of temperatures on Earth (-90 degrees C to +60 degrees C) has not changed... so are we warming? If we're warming, why aren't we recording Earth record highs?  We're still in our normal historical range.  Just think of your own body's temperature... how do you measure it, do you take an average of your fingers, toes and forehead? Would that average mean anything given the variability of temperatures on your extremities?  Why do we think it means anything for the Earth?

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