Science backs Gore's premise

[Algorem]

Source: Chicago Tribune

By Jeremy Manier | Tribune staff reporter
October 13, 2007

The scientific consensus on global warming looked much different when Al Gore left elective office in 2001 than it does today.

Most of the remaining doubts some scientists harbored about the impact of human activity on global temperatures have disappeared in the last few years. Gore's recital of climate facts in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" contains some flaws, but most experts agree he is correct on the biggest point: The earth is on a path toward a perilously warm climate and the release of greenhouse gases is playing a key role.

The research behind that conclusion has been coming for decades, but some of the most dramatic findings emerged only in the last few years.

Perhaps most striking is a thawing in the last few months around the North Pole, where the amount of sea ice reached an all-time low in September, with 27 percent less ice than the previous record set in 2005. Satellite images of the Arctic show what some researchers say could be the start of a feedback loop that causes the Arctic ice to shrink permanently...



Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gore-scienceoct13,1,5559471.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

[Spazito]

1. Thanks for posting this, it is good to see .....

this acknowledgment in a mainstream paper.

Recommended.

[Reader Rabbit]

2. Sadly, my local paper ran a hit piece.

It seemed as if they searched out every obscure individual they could in order to imply that Gore didn't deserve the Nobel. Ironically, the editorial board ran an opinion piece that the award was deserved! Talk about your mixed messages!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. morning you...

I can't read that rag anymore. It either bores me or pisses me off.

[rodeodance]

8. like Hannity did last night. He would not shut up about Gore riding in a private plane

[kestrel91316]

3. It's not even Gore's premise to start with. It's IPCC and climatologists' premise.

[dickbearton]

6. You sound like a Corrupt Republican's "stooge"

[kestrel91316]

7. OMG, lol, you don't know me AT ALL.

I am one of Gore's BIGGEST fans. Ask anybody.

He didn't invent the idea that global warming/climate change was a big frickin' train wreck headed right our way. Scientists and climatologists did that part. He's just the world's best person at getting the news out and stirring people to action.

Sheesh. Go pick on a Republican or Libertarian. Everybody here knows what a fire-breathing Dem I am......

[lovuian]

5. I can't believe with the Artic melting like it is that anybody

questions global warming anymore

People are delusional

[Kutjara]

9. Even worse are the people...

...who talk about the melting of the Arctic ice like it's the best thing ever. "Ooh," they say, "now we can extend our territorial waters and drill for oil and save money on transportation by taking the Northwest Passage!!! Isn't it exciting?!?!" Yeah, buddy, the destruction of our planet's environment is just peachy.

These are the kinds of people who'd bring hot dogs to a neighbor's house fire.

[Delphinus]

12. That truly made me sick to my stomach!

When I read that, just last week, I literally got sick in my stomach.

[WindRavenX]

11. I'm beginning to think people hate and reject science because they think it implies some moral issue

Which, in a way, it is. We have to not just change a few *habits* of society--like recycling or using fuel efficient cars--we have to change the entire way society and civilization is structured if we are to have serious and lasting change. Our entire way of life needs to change. That is a deeply, deeply challenging notion to most people, especially, imo, religious people.

[truthisfreedom]

10. What's nice about global warmings rapid acceleration with massive climate change coming very quickly

is that not everything will go down the memory hole and we'll be able to sort out those who helped drive us into this ever more quickly.

What's sad about it is that we're all screwn.

[Delphinus]

13. From the story:

"By making scientifically unsupportable statements, gives his critics a wide opening to cast doubt on his conclusions and on his motives," Emanuel wrote in an e-mail response to questions.

Now I'm probably mixing apples and potatoes here, but why don't the unsupportable statements that religions use get that same reaction?

[Delphinus]

14. Did ANYONE read the comments?

Wow! {gasp!}

[Swamp Rat]

15. Of course, but the Flat-Earthers say otherwise.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Of course it does. The science is NOT complicated. Burning fossil fuels creates CO2.

CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have increased markedly since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

CO2 lets in sunlight but traps heat. (Just look at Venus)

It's pretty fuckin' straightforward.