Snow Day

Another really bad storm is hitting Toronto this morning. I'd like to remind everyone that one of the symptoms of global warming is weather extremes. I better not see any deniers writing today about how all this snow "disproves" global warming. Lorrie Goldstein, I'm looking at you.

Lorrie Goldstein says this isn't a problem but...

There's an article in the Globe & Mail today about how the Antarctic ice sheets are breaking apart faster than expected. Contrast this new piece of evidence with Lorrie Goldstein's column yesterday that insists that there's no global warming any year that does not break records. As Far and Wide ably points out, this is a very silly way of understanding global climate trends. At the same time though, if you read the Sun's letters to the editor section, it appears that a chunk of their readership thinks that Goldstein is some kind of climate genius.

Only in the National Post

Robert Fulford gets angry at those who speak of "carbon footprints" because they belong to that set of people who do things to the English language that he does not like. What's problematic here is that Fulford appears to be decrying a lack of economy with words, and yet, I can't think of a more concise way to describe the greenhouse gas emissions that result from the activities of an individual, nation, industry, corporation, or what-have-you.

Canada in Bali: A National Embarassment

Apparently we've teamed up (unofficially, of course) with the US and Japan to put out the message that "economic growth is just as valuable as the environment." The same group of countries is working against any kind of short-term targets - why do tomorrow what you can put off till the day after that? This is not a Canada that I can feel proud about, this is a shameful country willing to put short-term gain in the form of oil revenue ahead of the long-term danger of climate change.

Manufacturing Percent

Pierre Bourque has as one of his headlines today that "Three Quarters Believe Global Warming A 'Natural Occurence.'" Wow. I guess that lots of people don't believe we are causing global warming. But wait, what happens if I click through to the story? Well I read the third paragraph which tells me that:

"The online study [emphasis mine] which polled nearly 4000 votes found that a staggering 71 percent of people think that the rise in air temperature happens naturally."

So this valuable information was the result of an online poll?! Have these people ever heard of freeping? The resulting impression though created in the article and the headline probably falls in one of two categories (neither of which have any indication of being accurate):

• The average person is ignorant,

OR

• The theory that global warming is not man-made is gaining acceptance.

Neither of these is supported by the article and its "online study."

Godwin's Law Award

I missed this, but apparently US Senator James Inhofe had compared those who believe that global warming is occurring to the Third Reich. Go read the link, his comparison is faulty on several levels.

Bonus content: Inhofe gets bitch-slapped for not letting Al Gore answer any of his questions.

Group Think on Global Warming

One of the right-wing blogosphere talking-points on climate change is that it's a result of "group-think" that scientists won't challenge for fear of ostracism. Maybe they were talking about themselves:

"Of 63 blogs queried, we get survey results like this:

Do you think mankind is the primary cause of global warming

Yes (0) -- 0%
No (59) -- 100%

The last one strikes me as astonishing. Some skepticism is warranted in climate change science. But the fact that the scientific community overwhelmingly believes that humans are primarily responsible for current climate change and none of the right-wing bloggers does suggests to me another sign of severe conservative meltdown. (Hat tip: Ann.)"

63 blogs is not the largest sample, but still, it's significant that they are in lock-step on this topic. It looks a lot like group-think and a fear of ostracism to me.

Go Ahead and Make Me

That's the underlying sentiment behind Harper's stand on global warming - especially the way Dana of the Galloping Beaver sees it. It seems that Harper was ready to declare the problem solved when he appointed a Very Angry Man (and a very clueless one at that) to the environment portfolio. When pushed to actually do something, Harper won't, his approach on the environment is all sound and fury signifying nothing.