QOTD: Hot enough for you?
by Dale Hobson on March 19th, 2012
At 72 degrees, today is the hottest March 19 in history at Massena NY, beating the previous record of 61 degrees, set only two years ago. Yesterday was the hottest March 18 in history at Massena. Tomorrow is forecast to break the record for that day, as are the forecast highs for Wednesday and Thursday. A prolonged or unseasonable hot spell (or any stretch of weird weather) always heats up the debate about human impact on climate change.
Today’s Question of the Day:
Have you changed your mind in the last ten years, one way or the other, about the impact of human activity on climate change? What evidence or argument was most persuasive?
Tags: qotd
No. All the data is quite persuasive that the climate is warming and that warming is almost all caused by human means. If we were not here the current normal cycle would have the earth cooling. A prolonged hot spell or stretch of weird weather only heats up the debate because people make the incorrect assumption that the two are linked. There may be a link, none is proven at this time. Many so called “environmentalists” are selling a lot of books these days and making the speaking rounds by playing this card.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2011/02/sifting_through_evidence_on_cl.html
Focusing on slowing industrial development is simply a solution that we cannot achieve. Developing alternative energy sources that will take decades to develop (just the infrastructure alone we have will not support it for decades) is a recipe for disaster. It is good to work on them for other reasons but you cannot stop this warming that way. Given what we know all of our efforts need to be geared at carbon capture and sequestration, currently it is our only hope. And while we are developing this technology we should be moving towards higher ground.
Trees have been doing that capture and sequestration thing just fine for a long time. Any concocted method will come back to bite us later…this is guaranteed, so let’s get serious about planting trees and protecting forests, and work on moving our butts back from the coastlines.
There is a lot of overly careful, politically correct, tippy-toeing around happening, and a “proven link” will be a long time in coming. The CLIMATE is changing. The WEATHER has changed in the span of my adult memory. Further proof is un-necessary. Waiting for it will leave us flat-footed, and food systems are the most fragile things we rely on.
Plant a garden. Insulate your house. Develop your community.
No, not really. Of course human activity has some effect upon the climate but there are many other factors as well.
I really don’t regard this mild weather as all that strange. I clearly remember warm weather in March back sometime in the early 50’s when I was dressed in summer clothing and playing on the grass in front of our house.
Climate, weather, call it what you will, is always changing.
As they say in sports, “Records are meant to be broken.”
Yes, there ARE many other factors, and now that we’ve dislodged that boulder, we will be crushed. Waiting for the next flood, tornado, heat wave or drought makes you a victim. The insurance companies will quickly tire of this trend.