Everyone's Going Green These Days

It's just a matter of time until Ken Cuccinelli files a lawsuit against those alarmist dinosaurs.

Only in DC

So I get a trip this morning going from Virginia into DC to Union Station. Traffic is fine until we get to the Roosevelt Bridge, which carries traffic from interstate 66 across the Potomac. Once across the river, it more or less dumps you on Constitution Avenue. This morning, however, we only got about halfway across before everything came to a crawl. I'm figuring it's an accident, until I notice the sea of firetrucks and police cars along Constitution. There were also a couple of TV news trucks with those big antennas thrown in for good measure. That's when I notice the banner.

There's a construction site on the NW corner of 23rd and Constitution, with the State Department on the NE corner (that's the building on the right hand side of the photo at the end of this post). There was big banner hanging from one of two big cranes. It was a picture of the planet Earth with the caption "Too big to fail." Clever, I was thinking, but why the big emergency response? That's when I noticed the two objects hanging from the bottom corners of the banner: People. Two morons were actually hanging from this damn thing.

According to the Post article (there's also a better photo of the banner), it was a protest organized by Greenpeace and timed to correspond with some sort of economic forum taking place at the State Department. The protesters were apparently hoping to draw attention to environmental needs as well.

But did they really accomplish what they wanted? People trying to get to work were left steaming in traffic. So instead of merely drawing attention to their cause, the protesters instead succeeded in pissing off a lot of people. That was certainly the case with me. In fact, I spent the rest of day throwing trash out of the car while needlessly gunning the engine.

And suppose there had been a major fire in the area? With so much rescue equipment tied up because of these idiots, not to mention the traffic jams, there would have been serious problems.

My passenger and I were fortunate in that we got through the are shortly after the protest started. I took took a different route back out of the city and met up with 66 on the other side of the Potomac. By then it looked like the traffic was backed up at least a mile. Plus, with the protest now all over the news and traffic reports, many motorists tried taking alternate routes, jamming those as well.

Did these protesters stop to think about the consequences of their actions? Aside from pissing off potential supporters, did it occur to them that all the thousands of cars forced to needlessly sit in traffic were throwing even MORE CO2 into the atmosphere? Wouldn't it be a hoot if their actions were the final push needed to finally melt the ice caps and doom the Earth?

Maybe Greenpeace should stick with saving the whales.

George Will: Full of Hot Air

Here's a news flash for George F. Will: Warmer temperatures have been scientifically shown to cause ice to melt.

The conservative columnist recently wrote a column in which he said that Arctic sea ice was at levels equal to the levels seen in 1979. As proof, he cited a study from the University of Illinois. This touched off no small firestorm of controversy among Washington Post readers. The issue was addressed by the paper's ombudsman, who found that the paper's editors had been negligent in their fact checking. Even a scientist at the University of Illinois said that no one from either the paper or Will's staff had contacted them. The bottom line was that Will's interpretation of the study was--to put it politely--flawed. Andrew Freedman, who writes a weather blog, has a pretty good summary of the entire controversy.

To further demonstrate that Will is incredibly selective about his facts, new satellite data shows that Arctic sea ice is continuing to shrink and become thinner. Most alarming, it also shows that ice older than two years--the stuff that doesn't melt during the summer--is at its lowest level on record.

The good news is that the scientists who just a few years ago had said the Arctic would be ice free by 2050 were wrong. The bad news is that they now think that may happen as early as the summer of 2015.

The problem with an ice free north pole--aside from the implications for wildlife in the region--is that open water absorbs much more heat than white ice, which reflects solar radiation. That will only serve to further accelerate global warming. An ice free Arctic may also have unknown effects on worldwide ocean currents, which in turn govern much of our planet's overall climate.

George Will is 68 years old, so chances are good that he'll be gone by the time our world turns to shit. But for those of us who are younger, and especially for our children, the actual scientific data is clearly something to be very, VERY concerned about.

Windy Weather

As the most active hurricane season since 2005 continues to pick up steam, a new study suggests that the strongest tropical cyclones are getting even stronger because of global warming.

According to the scientists involved, the average wind speed of the strongest storms has increased from 140 mph in 1981 to 156 mph in 2006. At the same time, the temperature of the ocean surface in the regions where cyclones form has increased by half a degree. Likewise, the annual frequency of major tropical storms has increased from 13 to 17.

While the last two years have been unusually quite in the Atlantic, it's important for Americans to remember that we aren't the only ones who get such storms. Last year Asia experienced an unusually heavy typhoon season, and let's not forget the cyclone that devastated Myanmar earlier this year.

Just Crank Up the AC

In a further sign of Arctic warming, an ice shelf the size of Manhattan has broken off from an island near the northern coast of Canada.

Probably nothing to worry about, though. That particular ice shelf has only been there for the last 4500 years. And despite what some alarmists may claim, melting ice is NOT caused by warmer temperatures.

Turning Up the Heat

Satellite photos show that a half mile wide crack has developed in a glacier in Greenland. Scientists find this particularly disturbing because northern Greenland, where the Petermann glacier is located, has so far appeared to be immune to global warming. Numerous other smaller fractures can also be seen in the ice.

Soothsayer

Balancing Act

Sell Your Furnace on eBay While You Still Can

There is little doubt that global warming is leading to massive species extinctions, changing rainfall patterns, more extreme weather events, and perhaps even the eventual extinction of mankind. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't have some laughs along the way.

'The Decider' Inaction

Turning Up the Heat

It was 20 years ago today that a little known NASA scientist testified on Capital Hill and first sounded the alarm on a radical new idea: Global warming.

That testimony took place in 1988 which went on to become the warmest year on record--up till then. Since 1988, 14 years have been even warmer.

In the two decades since, James Hansen--now director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies--has become a leading expert on the dangers of global warming. The Bush administration, ever vigilant in its efforts to marginalize science. has in recent years sought to tone down or even suppress Hansen's reports.

Even outside the White House, there remain skeptics who say global warming is a myth. One of those is Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma, who said "the alleged 'consensus' over man-made climate fears continues to wane and more and more scientists declare their dissent." This opinion is not surprising coming from someone like Inhofe, who has succeeded in permanently acclimating his body to an average temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, that's to be expected when you spend all your time with your head up your ass.

Why I Have A New Found Admiration For Bush

There are some people out there who have criticized President Bush for being indifferent to the suffering of the American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. These unpatriotic Americans could not be further form the truth! It turns out that Bush has made some incredible personal sacrifices to show his solidarity with those doing the actual fighting and dying in his wars: He has given up golf.

But Where Will We Park Our SUV's?

Today's "Feel Good" Video