Tom Toles for March 16, 2012

never

I can’t come up with anything better…….but i might take a shot at something

This it is a scene from 330 years ago. 330 years from now, it will have to be done in scuba gear. When did scientific facts become a political issue?

It always struck me that the Washington ‘cannot tell a lie’ story was almost certainly a lie made up by Parson Weems.

The earth’s climate has always been changing. Should humakind work towards keeping the planet at one contstant temperature ? or perhaps pollute less to the let earth take its own course ?

Actually, when the Repubs get caught red-handed these days, their favorite response is, “I cannot tell a lie…Obama did it.”

“The good thing about science is that it is true even if you don’t believe it.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson

On a side note, I find it interesting that the people who value religion over science constantly try to devalue any science they don’t agree with by referring to it as a “religion.” On topic, you clearly have no familiarity with the level of evidence and understanding of the scientific topic that we actually have. I suggest that you might start with Spencer Weart’s excellent review, The Discovery of Global Warming. I’m not sure it’s being updated now that he’s deceased, although it is being hosted by the AIP, but as far as understanding where our understanding originally comes from, you can’t do better.

“We ALMOST hit some record that was set in maybe the 1800’s”

Data, please, what record are you talking about?

The evidence I can see with my own eyes has more weight than what a multitude of anti-science republicans say.Religion is based on faith. Science is based on evidence, specifically, following it wherever it leads.

Another good book is “Nonsense on Stilts,” not that there is much chance that the average republican would read it.

Sounds like you are confusing local weather records with global averages. Of course there are always going to be high and low temperatures set at individual locations. If I quote a record high from Podunk, Arizona, that doesn’t prove global warming, nor does a local record low disprove it. Global Warming is about “GLOBAL” warming.

Stultus stulta loquitur.

Hey Jack… The GOP actively made lying apart of the platform. If you can tear yourself away from Fox News for a couple of hours, you should check out the story Frontline did on Lee Atwater. The episode is called, “Boogie Man.” It has GOP politicians admitting to their style of deceitful politics.

5,200 record high temperatures for the date yesterday. But! The REAL issue is the biological and geophysical changes, related to the population increase of humans, and the “output” in BTUs, not just CO2, of their machines and “lifestyles”.

“Messengers” are now under attack by deniers, and misogynists.

The National Center for Science Education has a number of wonderful resources to explain climate change clearly to those who do not believe it:http://ncse.com/climate/climate-change-101There is no longer two sides to this discussion, only a right side and a wrong side. Science, as usual, is on the right side. Be there — or go under.

Senator James Imhofe’s complaint that the problem with his three largest campaign donors being oil and gas corporations is that they don’t give him enough money is all we need to know about Republican integrity on the subject of climate change. Future generations will curse us for our sheeplike devotion to such corrupt politicians.

You only say that because you can’t admit the truth.

A great read about Peregrine falcons and DDT. www.utexas.edu/utpress/ Peregrine Falcon: Stories of the Blue Meanie by James Enderson. Dr Enderson has a great sense of humor, and is an excellent scientist. He helped to have DDT removed from the U.S. market and proved it was responsible for the decline of peregrines.

I want to give kudos for those of you responding to the deniers. Shine a light into those dark places,promote truth, combat ignorance and illiteracy. Sadly some are not reachable, or teachable!

..@eryx@magus..I see that you two have opposing points of view on the sun’s impact on earth:‘The solar cycle exerts a negligible influence on Earth’s temperature’ eryx‘(the sun is) the FIRST thing climate scientists examine…you just make yourself look foolish’ magus…Does @magus consider @eryx to be foolish?

Thank you for taking the time to spell out your position. I agree that the trends are there.…You have answered your own question (what prediction?) about the ‘Cold Snap’ …’ What the ice cores really show is that big variations (either way) can occur in short time period’ … The big spikes in coldness are nick-named ‘Cold Snaps’. Their magnitude make the current trends look very small. … I am more interested in today’s weather setting new records for 150 year cycles. Extremes in temp, precipitation, storms, etc. catch my attention. What people are pointing to as ‘signs’ are only 50-year peaks.

‘…effects of a single volcanic eruption…’ AGREED.Your example could explain one of the causes of a Cold Snap. We have very little to go on when it comes to predicting the next Cold Snap.

“what’s your beef?”My beef is- People going around saying they are ‘right’ and they are ‘scientific’ and everyone else will have to agree with them!… Some of this column talk sounds like the ‘Scientists’ of Darwin’s acquaintance that propounded derived ‘facts’ from their arm chairs. Then Darwin went into the world and researched ‘Origin of Species’. Now, those ‘Scientists’ don’t seem to have very good answers.…As a respected scientist once said: We tell a story with one ending. We get new information. We tell the story again with a different ending. And we do it all over again.…Bottom Line: The Climate Story started being told a long time ago with mythological explanations. Does anyone doubt that It will be retold differently in ten years. I am not throwing my ‘statistics’ around when I say this.

You missed my post to eryx:We have very little to go on when it comes to predicting the next Cold Snap.