Global Warming Fallacies

Climate change and extreme weather: The link

Wildfires in the southwest, flooding in North Dakota, tornadoes all over the place.

Is this a fluke? Or something we can expect more of, a consequence of climate change?

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change recently released a "white paper" that attempts to explain the connection between extreme weather and climate change. It was released in coordination with a three-part series in Scientific American.

"Is global warming causing more extreme weather?" the introduction to the Pew paper posits.

"The short and simple answer is yes, at least for heat waves and heavy precipitation. But much of the public discussion of this relationship obscures the link behind a misplaced focus on causation of individual weather events. The questions we ask of science are critical: When we ask whether climate change 'caused' a particular event, we pose a fundamentally unanswerable question. This fallacy assures that we will often fail to draw connections between individual weather events and climate change, leading us to disregard the real risks of more extreme weather due to global warming."

Undoubtedly, scientists say, the stakes are rising and extreme weather will increase. The paper notes that from 1958 to 2007, the number of days with "very heavy precipitation" increased by 58 percent in the northeast.

The 13-page report itself might seem a little technical to some, but I was impressed by how accessible it was. It seems intended for a general audience.

The Pew website adds on a wealth of related content, including an extreme weather events map and timeline.

ONLINE

- Pew Center on Global Climate Change white paper: http://www.pewclimate.org/publications/extreme-weather-and-climate-change

- Scientific American three-part series: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=extreme-weather-caused-by-cliimate-change

Visit Sandy Bauers' blog at http://go.philly.com/greenspace.

Letter Concerning P.O.D. Global Warming Fallacies - Magic City ...

Okay, here's the bombshell. The current VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN INDONESIA (Gunung Merapi) since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just 1 week, negated every single effort you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet - all of you.

THE VOLCANO IN ICELAND recently took just 4 days to achieve similar results.

Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress - it's that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans and all animal life.

I know! I know!. (group hug)...it's very disheartening to realise that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid's "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speed boat, vacationing at home instead of Bali, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your $1 light bulbs with $10 light bulbs...well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tube in just a few days.

The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days - yes - FOUR DAYS ONLY by that volcano in Iceland, totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon and there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud at any one time - EVERY DAY.

Oh, I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in its entire 40MILLION YEARS on earth. Yes folks, MT PINATUBO was active for over one year - think about it.

Of course I shouldn't but I will spoil this touchy-feely tree-hugging moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognised 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keeps happening, despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.

I'm so sorry and I do wish I could show you a silver lining to this cloud of volcanic ash but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years and it happens every year.

The Green Fallacy, An Average Citizens Common Sense Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism

Fallacies and argument appraisal

Principles of Planetary Climate

Discovering the world through debate, a practical guide to educational debate for debaters, coaches and judges

Technical Communication