GreenWatch Newsletter 7 (August 26, 2008)

Global cooling is gaining momentum among prominent scientists.

A Mexican scientist predicts that due to diminished solar activity, earth will descend into a "Little Ice Age" lasting 60-80 years (translated from Spanish. Spanish speakers can find original story here).

Another scientist predicts a climate similar to the one earth had in the 1800's within 15 years.

Has it already started? 2008 on track to be coldest year this century.

Alaskan residents are calling 2008 "the year without summer."

Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota have seen temperatures in August drop below freezing.

In England, the harvest has been delayed by the unusually cool temperatures, while sales of thermal underwear have skyrocketed.

Most Egregious Claim of the Week:

Nancy Pelosi, appearing on Meet the Press this week, stated that the surge in Iraq has been a failure because, among a handful of other reasons, the Maliki-led Government has failed to pass a carbon law.

No word on whether she feels the same way about the Democrat-led Congress.

GreenWatch Newsletter 6 (August 12, 2008)

Oooops! The U.N. IPCC published predictions by its climate models: The UN Climate Models Got it Wrong: No Warming Yet This Century

The Washington Post writer Joel Achenbach fears the fashion of blaming every disaster on Global Warming threatens The True Faith. Global Warming Did It! Well, Maybe Not

But it won't stop as long as scientists in almost any field can win funding and feed media hysteria with some far-fetched global warming connection in their research:

Melting ice caps will lead to shellfish invasion but read the whole story: it's a good thing!

Canadian Govt: Global warming means more raw sewage in local water, maybe, someday. Meanwhile let's raise taxes to pay for it now!

Most Egregious Claim of the Week:

Usually this section features some sort of snarky comment but I'm afraid all the snark in world couldn't do justice to this column from the Guardian in the UK:

Oliver Tickell: On a Planet 4C Hotter, All We Can Prepare For is Extinction

"...the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction.

"The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term sea level rises of 70-80 metres. All the world's coastal plains would be lost, complete with ports, cities, transport and industrial infrastructure, and much of the world's most productive farmland. The world's geography would be transformed much as it was at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels rose by about 120 metres to create the Channel, the North Sea and Cardigan Bay out of dry land. Weather would become extreme and unpredictable, with more frequent and severe droughts, floods and hurricanes. The Earth's carrying capacity would be hugely reduced. Billions would undoubtedly die."

You hear that? Billions. I don't think Mr. Tickell got Mr. Achenbach's memo.

GreenWatch Newsletter 5 (August 6, 2008)

Featured Story:

Could John McCain be watching GreenWatch? McCain economic adviser Steve Forbes dropped all sorts of hints on Glenn Beck that McCain's proposed cap-and-trade system, which would implement an unprecedented tax increase to combat an issue based on shaky science, is about to go the way of the Dodo bird:

Forbes: Cap-And Trade Won't Get Very Far Under McCain

Our message is getting to him. As we said in our petition, McCain is an honorable man, and when presented with the facts about the unsettled science surrounding climate change and the stagnating effects enacting a cap-and-trade system would have on the American economy, he'll have no choice but to make the right decision and scrap his faulty plan before it even gets off the ground.

Now, more than ever, it's important to keep the pressure up. Tell your friends about us. Get them to sign our petition, which you can find online.

Other Stories:

Warming Won't Drive More Hurricanes, Study Says

(Discovery News)

Branson's Bogus Eco-drive

(Irish Business News)

Calculate Nancy Pelosi's Carbon Footprint

(MichelleMalkin.com)

Canada Must Prepare for New Arctic Age

(Edmonton Journal)

Great Lakes Rising Again; Levels Close to Normal

(Detroit Free Press)

Most Egregious Claim of the Week:

Laurie David is the ex-wife of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld creator Larry David, and has become a self-appointed spokeswoman of sorts for the green agenda. She has also become a fairly reliable source of outlandish claims regarding the consequences and effects of global warming. She may have topped herself this week.

Laurie David: Global Warming to Blame for Daughter's Jellyfish Sting

I wish I could say I made that up, but she seems to believe it's true. I know what you're thinking: What's the big deal? Who cares what she says about some stupid jellyfish? Why even bother bringing it up?

The problems is that this story, and countless stories like it, re-enforce the false notion that the science of global warming is settled, and the only discussion left to have is how best to combat it. Sure, Ms. David's claims of jellyfish stings are silly and absurd, but not all such claims are that way. Sometimes they're far worse. For example, there's Johann Hari, writing in The Independent, a British newspaper, who believes global warming will have far greater repercussions than just a little redness and swelling. He compares it to a weapon of mass destruction kept by Al-Qaeda in a secret cave, and says that global warming:

"...doubles the intensity of hurricanes, causing them to drown a US city and kill nearly 2,000 people. It turns Spain and Australia dry in the worst droughts on record. It makes the oceans acidic, killing essential parts of the food chain. It is causes these acidic seas to rise and wash away whole nations like Bangladesh and Tuvalu. And if the machine is left switched on for too long, it will drown London and New York and Lagos and Kinshasa too."

These claims are utterly preposterous: Hurricanes are not made stronger by global warming, Australia has had record rainfall in some regions this year, Bangladesh is actually gaining land, and New York is in no real threat of being drowned, unless Mr. Hari is confusing reality with the 2003 blockbuster, "The Day After Tomorrow."