Aero wrote:On this one I am inclined to agree with Simon. I live near the same latitude, and really not very far from him. I know that there is a short term cooling going on because it is -5 deg. C outside right now.
Last winter was one of the coldest and snowiest on record, and the winter before that was miserable cold. Neither one of the summers were as hot as I remember them being in years gone by either. But of course this proves nothing about the climate, just that the weather is miserable cold outside today and that's the truth!
This message board confounds me. I would expect it to be filled with those that are scientifically inclined, yet instead its filled with people willing to accept conclusions based on isoloted anectodal evidence. Even false anecdotal evidence because, Aero, I live near you (Madison, WI-- but I am a Hawkeye) and though it was ridiculously snowy last year, it was not any colder that average:
07-08 Madison snowfall
07-08 Madison heating degree days (cumulative temp)
Anyway, certainly you undertstand that one year in one specific region of the world does not describe climate-- it describes weather. If you want statistics on climate, you can get them
here.
The part I object to in the EcoWorld article is the assumption that moving away from fossil fuels costs
anything at all in the long term. Yes, it requires an up-front investment (such as building a coal-burning power plant does), but in the end it will more than pay for itself. And, best of all, the money we do spend on "tomorrow's" energy will stay right here in the U.S. and not end up funding totalitarian regimes in the Middle East.
Fossil fuel is not in endless supply. We have no choice but to invest money in developing renewable sources of energy at some point. Why not do it now rather than later, so that we can reap the profits of the techology rather end up in another situation where the U.S. is licensing Japanese technology
as happend with hybrid technology.
This is all despite the fact that we owe it to our children to treat the world we are passing on to them responsibly. If there is even a reasonable chance we are doing them harm, doesn't it make sense to at least make a token effort to address the issue?