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Monday, February 15, 2010

Climategate - oh my.

I'm not a politician, or an environmentalist. I'm no activist for causes. When I hear a story, or see a report on the news, I'm the person prone to arguing with the TV from my couch (even if the news comes from a "normal" network, not the old sensational FOX News, LOL).

Have I been a poo-pooer of the whole global warming hype-hysteria? Well, I recycle aluminum here in Colorado. In California where it was easy to do and we had curbside recycling, I sorted all our waste and put the appropriate stuff in the appropriate can -- because I could and should. Even when the neighbors laughed and thought it was silly to go to all that work. When we camp, we clean up our mess and leave the site as we found it, albeit a bit more trampled-down. Do I have a "green" vehicle? No, and that's mainly because we can't afford one. If we could, you can betcha we'd be driving a more fuel-efficient car! I have my own shopping bags I use when possible. Not only do I hate wasting so many plastic shopping bags, but it's also inconvenient to have heaps of them around the house. I confess: I still let my kid use one as a trashable lunch bag every day, though. Our house is heated solely by a woodburning stove. Do I feel bad about that? No, because I really think the carbon and gases it puts out aren't any more harmful to the planet than emissions released in manufacture of electricity. Not like we've got a choice, anyway.

So. Am I "green"? Hm. Probably more like turquoise.

I've never thought burning more fuel than necessary or manufacturing new cans, bottles, and bags when recyclables were available were good for our planet. Obviously that sort of thing will catch up with us eventually. Still, it's certainly seemed like "global warming" has gotten more and more screen time, and been hyped to the panic-max. Not to mention, the whole scene was a turn-off for me ever since Al Gore associated himself with it. (yuck).

Still, I'm completely shocked this morning after reading a succession of blogs and news reports about what a scam the whole global warming "crisis" has been. Started with a link to an article author Lori Foster posted on her Facebook page, and I just kept clicking links and reading. http://bigjournalism.com/mwalsh/2010/02/14/as-global-warming-hoax-dies-msm-is-awol-is-anybody-home/

Everything from fudged studies (such as a 2007 report warning the Himalayan glaciers would be gone by 2035, based on input from a geology student in the Andes and a climbers magazine), to many countries ditching temperature-data gathering stations from cooler areas between 1970 and 1990, so that they only received data from warmer areas (they ditched the Andes weather stations and made up data by calculating it based on data gathered 1200 miles away from the Amazon and beaches of Peru... and they call this science?), to scientists including city data and refusing to acknowledge that temps in urban areas are hotter than in rural areas (hm. ever spend a summer day laying on the cool green... asphalt? dumbasses), a bunch of "stolen" emails which implicate a number of scientists who found ways to keep articles discounting climate change hysteria OUT of the public eye, and it seems much of the funding and research for all this disastrous news has come from.... wait for it...

Environmentalist organizations, such as World Wildlife Fund and Pacific in Peril. Wow, that last doesn't sound like it'll give out biased info, does it? Here's one of the links where I found most of this appalling story:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2010/02/06/lawrence-solomon-ipcc-beyond-the-himalayas.aspx

Is it possible that the stuff I'm reading today is now backlash hype? Certainly. But I still can't get over Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. With all the new proof of unfounded claims in reports from his "organization", all he can do is shrug and tell us no way will he apologize personally and we can't possibly hold him responsible for an entire 3000 page report.

Newly defected climatologists are now admitting the great warm-up ended in 1995, and our temperatures are now similar to what they were 70 years ago, before the massive increase in greenhouse gases.

Gee, no wonder our last 3 winters here in Colorado have been more like "when I was a kid".

Perhaps the end of the world is not nigh, after all. At least until 2012, right? In the meantime, I'll still be using my own shopping bags when possible, and the aluminum cans will still go to the drop box for the Senior center. We'll still be using lots of paper plates, because, well... that's how it is when you've got no dishwasher. And our fluorescent corkscrew lightbulbs are here to stay. Lower electric bills are good!

Autumn Piper (Cronkite)

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The thing is, that its good to be green. Every little way we can help our planet, we should. This is where we live. It's the only planet we have. Whether the end is nigh or not, we have to live here, we have to breathe the air, we have to make this a safe and healthy place for our kids. Scientists and people want to make our situation worse than it is to panic the public...it's gets them money for research but we each have a responsibility to do what we CAN and what is within our means to do to protect our environment. Kudos to you, and everyone else who does their share... thanks for posting this..it was very informative and I enjoyed it.