BREAKING NEWS! Copernicus wrong! Earth still center of the universe!
Global warming not man-made, says presumptive Walz opponentby Leigh Pomeroy
Even the most diehard climate change deniers are begrudgingly admitting that yes, global warming exists. Yet, they hurriedly add, man is not the cause: It's all a function of a natural cyclical phenomenon.
We expect this view from some neolithic politicians and the oil and coal company executives who feed them, but from a physician running for Congress? That's hard to believe, especially in light of the overwhelming evidence that (1) the rapid rise of greenhouse gases is causing global warming and that (2) this rise has been created by humankind's burning of fossil fuels.
But don't trust me on this issue. Ask the long list of climate scientists and distinguished researchers, including many Nobel prize winners, who say so.
So one has to wonder why a Mayo Clinic physician, certainly an impeccable credential not lightly gained, would proudly proclaim his adherence to the "mankind is not the cause" fringe group of climate change deniers. Okay, maybe he's just a contrarian. But no, that's not it. It's something much more sinister: He's a candidate for Congress.
The physician in question is Brian J. Davis, who just today was endorsed by Minnesota's 1st Congressional District Republican Party to face first-term Democrat Tim Walz.
Davis is not coy about his unorthodox (by a strictly scientific standard) stance. In a letter sent to area Republicans in January he wrote:
A large portion of this flawed Energy Act is based on the premise that global warming is influenced substantially by human combustion of fossil fuels which in the U.S. provide 86% of all our energy needs. While it is important to maintain high standards for air quality and to limit air pollution, there really is no consensus that global warming is man made. [Emphasis ours.]Later on in the letter he added:
Our nation’s energy policy and economic well-being should not be based on the deeply flawed theory that carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuel combustion will lead to catastrophic climate change. [Emphasis ours.]While the degree of "catastrophic" is still being debated among climate scientists, the consensus is clear: The levels of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere are the highest they've been in 650,000 years — a time when the planet was much warmer than it is today. And those levels are slated to go even higher.
It is seemingly inconceivable that anyone with a serious scientific background in 2008 would question the overwhelming evidence that greenhouse gases as a byproduct of human civilization are at least a partial cause of global warming. Yet, surprisingly, there are a few still around, just as for well over a century there were those who denied the Copernican model of the heliocentric solar system.
If you want to find one, all you need to do is take a trip to the campus of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and ask for the guy who's running for Congress.
Labels: Brian J. Davis, climate change, global warming, Tim Walz
Powered by Blogger
4 Comments:
You're kidding, right...? Carbon dioxide exists in the atmosphere in .0038 parts per thousand, or 38 parts per 100,000. Please ask yourself why, (see Dennis Avery's book, Unstoppable Global Warming, Every 1500 years) increases in CO2 in the atmosphere follow warming by 500-600 years historically, and not the other way around? Hint: cold liquids hold more dissolved gases than warm...what % of the earth is liquid...) Please do not scream and curse at me, thank you very much. I note you say "partial" regarding warming. Please ask yourself how the ice ages in the past ceased to be? And look up the phrase, post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
Leigh,
I find myself in the awkward position of pointing out that the Republican candidate may in fact, be correct in this instance. There are two significant reasons:
1) The Hypsithermal: The Hypsithermal is generally identified as extending from 9500BC (the approximate abrupt end of the last 'ice age' to 3500BC. During that time, we had temperate forests on this continent all the up to the Arctic Circle.
"The temperatures of the Hypsithermal peaked between 7,500-5,000 yr BP and were higher than modern temperatures." ..."Changing vegetation and rapid deglaciation characterized the Hypsithermal." http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/sustain/draft/histry/histry-17.html
"The Hypsithermal Interval was the warmest post-glacial period: temperatures rose to as much as 2°C
above present temperatures, precipitating a dramatic rise in sea level. Nova Scotia’s forests changed
to hemlock-dominated forest, with maple and beech as major components." http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:zAs3hLiqJzwJ:museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nhns/t4/t41.pdf+hypsithermal+global+warming&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us&client=firefox-a
2) and... Every planetary body in the Solar System is exhibiting increased radiance. I will offer just a couple of examples, but anyone can verify this for themselves if they do a little online research on their own. In other words, we are experiencing something far more fundamental than mere "greenhouse gases."
For example:
Mars Is Warming, NASA Scientists Report http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17977
Global Warming Detected on Triton " The Earth is not alone in suffering global warming. According to observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and several ground-based instruments, temperatures on Neptune's largest moon have increased dramatically since the Voyager space probe swung by in 1989."... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/19980526052143data_trunc_sys.shtml
Hubble Space Telescope Helps Find Evidence that Neptune's Largest Moon Is Warming Up "Observations obtained by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based instruments reveal that Neptune's largest moon, Triton, seems to have heated up significantly since the Voyager spacecraft visited it in 1989." http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1998/23/text/
New storm on Jupiter hints at climate change http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-05-04-jupiter-jr-spot_x.htm?POE=TECISVA
Global Warming on Pluto Puzzles Scientists http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_warming_021009.html
Neptune News "Neptune has been getting brighter since around 1980; furthermore, infrared measurements of the planet since 1980 show that the planet has been warming steadily from 1980 to 2004. As they say on Neptune, global warming has become an inconvenient truth." http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2007/05/08/neptune-news/
etc., etc., etc.
Leigh,
the baffle them with bull$hit league has found you.
1. For a history on CO2 in the atmosphere checkout the graphs in the paleoclimatology section of NOAA, under the US Dept. of Commerce. Your #'s look about right Leigh.
2. As for solar input, here's the recent research debunking this as a reason for the current warmer temps, from the Royal Society in the UK:
http://publishing.royalsociety.org/media/proceedings_a/rspa20071880.pdf
Using solar input is a fave of the Exxon funded global warming deniers.
From a vox verax reader
Will the mayors of Austin, Lake City, Red Wing, Rochester, and Winona endorse Dr, Davis after they signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement ? Those mayors who represents over 170,000 people are showing the leadership role that the Bush Administration has not.
Will Dr. Davis endorse Norm Coleman who has introduced the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 which will implement a cap and trade program that would require each firm to turn in an emissions allowance to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for each ton of greenhouse gas it emits. Total allowances are limited to the number of tons allowed by the cap. These allowances can then be traded through a government provided greenhouse gas database, which would contain an inventory of emissions and a registry of reductions.
Post a Comment
<< Home