More myths and falsehoods about global warming

[RedEarth]

Since the release of the film An Inconvenient Truth (Paramount Classics, May 2006) featuring former Vice President Al Gore, the issue of global warming has received increased media attention. In March 2007, Media Matters for America documented several false, misleading, or baseless claims about the causes and seriousness of global warming that were circulating in the media at the time. Since then, media figures have continued to advance misinformation about global warming:

1. 1934 was the hottest year globally

Several media figures have misrepresented an August 2007 correction made by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) to its climate figures after the discovery of inconsistencies in its U.S. temperature data. According to Gavin A. Schmidt, a climate modeler at GISS, the correction resulted in a re-ranking of NASA's list of the warmest years in the United States. For example, whereas 1998 was previously ranked as the warmest year in the United States, it is now ranked second, behind 1934. According to Schmidt, the temperature difference between 1934 and 1998 in the United States -- both before and after the correction -- is not statistically significant. Further, the GISS stated that the revisions to the climate data have "no effect on the rankings of global temperature." However, during the August 10, 2007, edition of Fox News' Special Report, chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle reported that NASA was forced "to admit it was wrong when it said that 1998 was the hottest year on record" and that NASA "now says 1934 was the hottest year, followed by 1998, then 1921" but did not note that those rankings applied only to the United States. Glenn Beck made a similar claim during the October 24, 2007, edition of his nationally syndicated radio show. Beck declared that "the globe was the hottest" in 1934 and claimed that this "stat ... was, I believe, intentionally distorted by the guy the left holds up as the scientist on global warming," an apparent reference to James Hansen, director of GISS.

In fact, according to GISS, 2005 remained the warmest year globally in the instrumental record, followed by 1998. (2007 is now tied with 1998 as the second warmest year in the global instrumental record.) According to a January 16 GISS statement, "The eight warmest years in the GISS record have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years in the record have all occurred since 1990."

2. The sun, not human activity, causes global warming

Echoing earlier claims by nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh and columnist John McCaslin, media figures have distorted scientific research to claim that the sun -- rather than human activity -- is primarily responsible for global warming. During the August 21, 2007, edition of Special Report, host Brit Hume cited "new research by University of Washington mathematicians shows a correlation between high solar activity and periods of global warming" as evidence to support his claim that " skeptics are increasingly certain that the scare is vastly overblown." But an August 9, 2007, New Scientist article on the mathematicians' research warned that "limate-change skeptics may seize on the findings as evidence that the sun's variability can explain global warming -- but mathematician Ka-Kit Tung says quite the contrary is true." According to the article, Tung, who is a University of Washington professor of applied mathematics and an adjunct professor in Atmospheric Science, says his finding, in the New Scientist's words, "adds to the evidence that mainstream climate models are right about the likely extent of future human-generated warming."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802130001?f=h_latest

[DS1]

1. Glenn Beck is your source for accuracy?

Give me a break. No. Strike that. Go screw!

[RedEarth]

2. ? ...this is from Media Matters

You might want to look at this link also on Media Matters......

http://mediamatters.org/items/200703230007?f=s_search

[DS1]

4. thanks

.

[pingzing58]

3. As the Antartic Ice Melts even fast due to global warming both solar trend and human generated.

First, that the ice caps are melting is a fact. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080123181952.htm> In so much as human generated green house gases are being produced is a fact. In so much as there are cycles of climate change due to solar activity is a fact. In so much as volcanos and greenhouse gases produced by hydrothermal vent complexes are being produced is a fact. In so much as the earth's eliptical orbit (or lack thereof) around the sun produces global climate change is a fact. What we are looking at here is a "pefect storm." A conflagration of all of these climate changing events that are melting the ice caps and raising the ocean's levels to the point where in the not so distant future our arrogant and hubristic east coast repugs will be "aquatilis."

[Lint Head]

5. The entire world will be water boarded by Mother Nature.

:dem:

[belpejic]

6. Nice one, the coasts certainly will be n/t

[cloudythescribbler]

7. We get distracted by global warming DENIERS, while failing to advocate NET NEGATIVE Greenhouse ....

emissions.

We need to look not just at what reactionary turds like Limbaugh are saying, but at what relative "progressives" like Gore are advocating. 80% reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions globally by 2050 is GROSSLY INADEQUATE.

We need to go well beyond (at the global level) Norway's goal (for Norway) of Carbon neutrality by 2030.

I suppose this is a concern that should be raised by EVERYONE, but certainly authentic progressives shouldn't be afraid to 'break the ice' on this, on a mass scale.