Al Gore Was Right!

[x635 4,066]

On Monday, I watched "An Inconvienent Truth", the Al Gore movie on global warming. It was fascinating, but scary. I think everyone should watch it. It's sad, especially learning that polar bears will drown and become extinct. I know some probaly disagree with the movie or global warming, but I think it is a proven reality that needs to be addressed, before it's too late. Watch the movie, then argue with me.

And, with the weather being the way it's been lately, and after interviewing several "old-timers" (those over 30 years old), I've learned these winters have had more extremes and less regular snowfalls and cold spells then years past. I know I'll be saying "Global Warming- Phooey!" when I'm shoveling snow and it's 30 degrees out soon, but I still don't think winter in New York is anything like it used to be.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

[IzzyEng4 427]

A couple weeks ago, Australia had snow and it's their summer time down under!

[Guest]

I believe that we do indeed have a global warming problem, but remember, it was just a movie. One sided approach. You can spin anything any which way on the big screen.

There are records of winters that were mild, such as this year, a hundred years ago.

Somethings can be attributed to climate cycles.

[SpartanML 0]

Honestly after reading the book I am a little disgusted by Al Gore and how much he fudges and spins the truth... Even though I dont like Bush anymore I sure as hell am glad that moron Gore didn't get into office!

[x635 4,066]

Honestly after reading the book I am a little disgusted by Al Gore and how much he fudges and spins the truth... Even though I dont like Bush anymore I sure as hell am glad that moron Gore didn't get into office!

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This really isn't a politcal issue, nor is it a Bush vs. Gore issue, it's an issue that's proven to be affecting this world. Beyond Al Gore's movie, and whether you like him or not, there's lot of concrete evidence that our climate is changing. And these changes will start to show themselves in our lifetime. Even if Al Gore "fudges the truthe" and makes it scary....then it is good, because this issue needs attention and when people- and politicians- get scared, they react.

As far as climate cycles go, yes, but never as drasitcally or profound as they are now.....plus, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is radically more then ever before.

Edited January 5, 2007 by x635

[CFD320 35]

Talk to some real old timers (seniors) and you will hear stories of ice skating on the Hudson for goodness sake.

The question is: Is this a normal (but accelerated by humans) cycle for planet earth? We don't have enough data about climate before the last ice age, so is realistic to think that there is a yin to that yang?

[SpartanML 0]

Don't get me wrong Seth, I totally agree that we need to start addressing the growing issue of global warming but all I am saying is that I hate how Gore (and to be fair EVERY OTHER POLITICIAN EVER!) spin and fudge the truth to get their point across... it really bugs me how much people can get away with these days in their books and movies and what not.

Also I would like to apologize for getting a little political... I deal with politics on all levels so I can get riled up pretty easily.

Edited January 5, 2007 by SpartanML

[x635 4,066]

Don't get me wrong Seth, I totally agree that we need to start addressing the growing issue of global warming but all I am saying is that I hate how Gore (and to be fair EVERY OTHER POLITICIAN EVER!) spin and fudge the truth to get their point across... it really bugs me how much people can get away with these days in their books and movies and what not.

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I absolutely agree with that point....but that's partly the day and age we live in. Filmakers have a tremendous input on public point of view- and politicians- then ever before. As does the media.

I hate it too, but conterversy gets attention.

[Remember585 815]

Talk to some real old timers (seniors) and you will hear stories of ice skating on the Hudson for goodness sake. 

The question is: Is this a normal (but accelerated by humans) cycle for planet earth?        We don't have enough data about climate before the last ice age, so is realistic to think that there is a yin to that yang?

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My Grandpa used to tell me how people drove their cars across the Hudson!

You know, if we paid a little more attention in Earth Science.... maybe we would have picked up on something?!

Science is all theory, especially when you are referring to weather. I don't think anyone knows for fact how our climates cycle and what weather we should have. What basis do we have? 5,000 years ago nobody was sitting around checking their thermostats - were they? I think it is the way of nature to constantly change, if it was the same all the time then it would be unexciting!

[firecapt32 282]

When i was a kid I rememebr my Grandfather telling me that they used to sleigh ride down what is now 448 from pocantico hills all the way and down beekman ave to the hudson river. So the winters might have been colder or they just didnt pick up the snow!!!

Way back in 1977 westchester county was next in line with state mutual aid for the Buffalo area because of so much snow and ice.

Just a few years back we all went Upstate because of ice storms. so warming might be coming but its taking its sweet time getting here. Enjoy the warm weather while its here-- the jet stream is up in canada but will be dropping soon. whenit does we willhave the snow everyone is looking for, and allthe problems that go along with it.

[calhobs 110]

Didn't the global warming people admit lying to congress about 8 years ago???

[Guest]

what we are doing cant be good. We know that we are putting out a lot of CO2 and other gasses. There is no precedent for that anywhere in history. Messing with mother nature is never healthy. Look at all the work they are doing to repair the everglades and mississippi delta. We tried to make it better in the name of progress and royally screwed up the ecosystem in both places. So it isnt that hard to stretch that pumping millions of tons of MANMADE CO2 into the air over the past couple hundred years isnt good. Sure we maybe on the upswing of a climate change but we should probably stop putting the bad stuff up there. For very similiar reasons that you dont throw trash where ever you want, we should be concious of what we are throwing away in the atmosphere.

Thats just my two cents

[Arrowxt 8]

In NY we still have not beaten the record for not having snowfall up until the point we are in , a record set some time ago. You know what the "global warming" issue is over? The fact that no one can or ever will be able to predict the weather. And because of that they make excuses such as "global warming" . It is not a secret that the climate has changed before.

Arrow

[Guest]

[attachmentid=1843]

And so, 100 years from now, this photo will carry the caption: "Homus Shovelinus, Now Extinct".......

[27east 19]

I'm sure that teh Midwest would agree with Al after all the nice warm weather they have had lately.

Remember that Al Gore also created the internet.

[Guest]

Al Gore always aggravated me. After he lost the 2000 election, he went into hiding, grew a beard (and later shaved it) and then became the leading expert on everything. From my understanding, this winter's warm weather has more to do with the jet stream/ el nino than hydro carbons and green house gas. Surely high emissions don't help any, it just seems far too simplistic to tag this as global warming. Just curious...when did Gore have this environmental epiphany? I don't really remember him or Clinton tackling the issue during their time in office.

[llm60 0]

Mother nature works in mysterious way's my friend's!!!

[Guest]

from todays NY Times

January 10, 2007

Agency Affirms Human Influence on Climate

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

President Bush has said it.

A lot of government scientists have said it.

But until yesterday, it appeared that no news release on annual climate trends out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Bush White House had said unequivocally that a buildup of greenhouse gases was helping warm the climate.

The statement came in a release that said 2006 was the warmest year for the 48 contiguous states since regular temperature records began in 1895. It surpassed the previous champion, 1998, a year heated up by a powerful episode of the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean by El Niño. Last year, another El Niño developed, but this time a long-term warming trend from human activities was said to be involved as well.

“A contributing factor to the unusually warm temperatures throughout 2006 also is the long-term warming trend, which has been linked to increases in greenhouse gases,†the release said, emphasizing that the relative contributions of El Niño and the human influence were not known.

A link between greenhouse gases and climate change was also made in a December news conference by Dirk Kempthorne, the secretary of the interior, as that agency proposed listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Still, the climate agency’s shift in language came as a surprise to several public affairs officials there. They said they had become accustomed in recent years to having any mention of a link between climate trends and human activities played down or trimmed when drafts of documents went to the Commerce Department and the White House for approval.

James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the release reflected longstanding views within the administration.

“It’s helpful for them to describe what is a question in many people’s minds — what is the human factor, what is the El Niño factor,†Mr. Connaughton said of the NOAA release. “From our perspective, what was in the press release was a direct reflection of what the president and folks in his administration have been saying for some time.â€

Mr. Bush has made two speeches on climate. He first expressly accepted that humans were contributing to global warming in a news conference in Denmark in July 2005 on the way to an economic summit in Scotland, saying, “Listen, I recognize that the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem.â€

But the government’s scientific bureaucracy, where public affairs officials and scientists as recently as last year complained that findings pointing to climate dangers were being suppressed, has taken time to catch up.

“There’s been some sensitivity to the fact that some people have complained that NOAA and other parts of the government haven’t been as open as they would like them to have been on this,†said Jay Lawrimore, a climatologist at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., where the temperature trends are compiled. “Now NOAA is making an effort to be clearer on some of the influences.â€

Mr. Lawrimore said there was no way to account for the trends, be they the melting of Arctic sea ice or the warming of winters, without including an influence from heat-trapping gases.

“Year after year as we continue to see warmer temperatures,†he said, “there are more and more converts convinced that it’s not just natural variability and not just something that’s going to return back to temperatures we saw 40 or 50 years ago — that in fact we are doing something to the climate.â€

[Guest]

Al ( the loser ) Gore got his name on it , right there you lose me.

[Guest]

2 words....Water World

ha