The Last Frost

UN climate change panel paints bleak picture for North America – [earthTimes.org]

This is old news, but the predictions are getting worse and more urgent. 

Experts Say Global Warming Likely to Affect Africa Most Severely – [VOA News]

Scientists predict Southwest mega-drought – [MSNBC.com]

Permafrost. So named because it's land that never thaws, that is until now. Satellite data is showing that there has been a 12% increase in lake area in Siberia between 1970 and 2004. The frost is melting and this threatens to release huge amounts of carbon and methane into the atmosphere furthering the problem. 

Siberia's Once-Frozen Tundra Is Melting – [Radio Free Europe]

If you like to ski in the Northeast United States, well, you're out of luck this year. Ski resorts are feeling the pain of an abnormally warm winter, one which has brought virtually no snow to the region. They typically make up to a third of their seasonal income by now so they're in for a painful season if things don't turn around soon.

No winter wonderland for skiers in the U.S. Northeast – [Reuters.com]

Some more info on the Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

"Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document – that's what makes it so scary" [Guardian Unlimited]

The report suggests the following scenarios are extremely likely:

1. More intense storms  (not just hurricanes)
2. Sea level rise of a few feet
3. Melting of snow from all but the highest mountains.
4. Desertification will worsen.
5. Oceans will acidify, killing coral reefs.
6. Heatwaves will become more frequent.
7. Mass migrations of people and animals away from tropical regions will occur.

Global Warming the final verdict – [Guardian Unlimited]

Shall we change or shall we give up and accept what comes to us? I say let's change… some say fuck it, I say fuck that.

AlterNet: EnviroHealth: Global Warming is Here. Now What?

Global warming and El Nino are predicted by Britain's Meteorological Office to take the blame for the warmest year on record for our planet, 2007. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1994, 2006 is set to be the sixth hottest as reported by Reuters. 

If the 70 degree weather we had in New York City this past Saturday was any indication, I think they're right.

2007 predicted to be world's warmest year – [Reuters.com]

On January 2nd, Fox News recently aired a bit on the abnormally warm weather the East Coast has been experiencing and how the media is hyping it all up to global warming. The funny thing is that both of their correspondents agree with each other… so where’s the counter argument? 

There was none, which isn’t really a surprise for the Fair and Balanced News organization. They made some funny comments during the bit though. Patrick Michaels is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute which is a libertarian think tank based out of D.C. He’s got himself a nice reputation as a global warming skeptic. What’s funny is that he makes a statement that goes like this, "if you believe that warming causes cooling, you’re like my neighbors down in Virginia who think that if you put hot water in the ice cube tray it freezes faster". 

This statement pisses me off because when I was in High School I asked my Chemistry teacher if this very thing was true. He said, "no of course not" and I went back to sleep at my desk, unsatisfied. Years later I heard about this thing called the Mpemba effect. Hot water can freeze faster than cold water, and Patrick Michaels is a jackass. If a wikipedia article doesn’t convince you, check this out.

So what though, he got a simple scientific fact which happens to defy common sense wrong. What’s bad is that warming can in fact cause cooling contrary to what this guy thinks. It’s a simple case of feedback loops and science.

Here’s a completely hypothetical example: 

1) The globe warms

2) Polar ice melts (ice is fresh water)

3) Oceans are saltwater and they get diluted by the deluge of fresh water. 

4) Fresh water holds less heat than salt water, so the Earth’s oceans are less able to hold onto their heat.

5) Earth loses heat through the "freshened" ocean’s triggering an ice age.

Warming caused cooling… and Patrick Michaels is still an idiot even though he’s a "contributing author and reviewer of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change". 

FOX News lacks balance on environmental discussion – [You Tube]

So Called "Myth" #10: The earth’s poles are warming; polar ice caps are breaking up and melting and the sea level rising.

Their Argument In It's Entirety: "The earth is variable. The western Arctic may be getting somewhat warmer, due to unrelated cyclic events in the Pacific Ocean, but the Eastern Arctic and Greenland are getting colder. The small Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica is getting warmer, while the main Antarctic continent is actually cooling. Ice thicknesses are increasing both on Greenland and in Antarctica." [Read the Friends of Science's other arguments here]

The Truth: Yes, the Earth is variable, but the Earth is not this variable. At least not in recent times, and by recent I'm talking the last 10,000 years.

They argue that small parts of the Arctic are getting warmer while the rest of it is actually getting colder. They are talking about regional variations here not the big picture, so it's irrelevant even if it's true.

The main point they make though is that the ice is thickening in Greenland and Antarctica. Is this part of it true? Who would you trust, these guys who have lied in almost every single argument they made, or NASA. 

"When the scientists added up the overall gains and losses of ice from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, there was a net loss of ice to the sea." [NASA - Impact of Climate Warming on Polar Ice Sheets Confirmed, March, 2006] 

These guys just suck.

Common misconceptions about global warming – [Friends of Science]