Do You Have Problems in Life? Blame Global Warming

Guess what? The radical environmentalists and die-hard man-made global warming advocates are back with a new study (Climate King, Al Gore, just did a happy dance)! A recent AP story distributed by WRAL caught my attention and stirred emotions within me. It made me laugh, cringe, and my blood-pressure was most likely elevated after reading the piece. Blood pressure elevation aside, the article was a good display of how out of touch and ideologically driven some climate scientists are. Liberals and environmentalists alike are just not ready to eschew their beloved and sacred global warming convictions.

Here’s how the article begins: “The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can’t be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist.”

Oh, really? Sure, it has been a hot summer; I would be the first to attest to that. But, it is summertime, a season when we expect hot temperatures. However, James Hansen, the “top government scientist,” (who is undoubtedly omniscient) wants to tell us that the only cause for the sizzling temperatures is man-made global warming. What a surprise!

Recently, in regard to the heat wave the US and other countries have experienced, Hansen stated that man-made global warming “is not some scientific theory. We are now experiencing scientific fact.” (Insert heavy sigh.)

At this point, I would like to interject a word – a word that should be a cause for pause when considering Hansen’s statements. What is the word, you ask? Climategate. To make a long and scandalous story short, Climategate largely exposed man-made global warming for what it truly is: a lie. Climate data was intentionally manipulated and declines in global temperature were deliberately hidden by ideologically driven scientists with an axe to grind against the free-market and liberty. After years of environmental outrage and activism from climate scientists, deeply intelligent celebrities, and good ol’ Al Gore, Climategate cast a grim shadow over the man-made global warming movement and greatly damaged its credibility.

But the reality of Climategate didn’t seem to faze Hansen, who works for NASA. The article states that he is “a strident activist who has called for government action to curb greenhouse gases for years.” Smokey the Bear frequently states that “Only you can prevent forest fires;” I guess the government is the only entity that can protect us from ourselves and global warming. But, I digress.

What is Hansen’s goal? I’ll let the article speak for itself. “Hansen hopes his new study will shift people’s thinking about climate change and goad governments into action.” Bingo! That’s what the radical environmentalist movement is all about – goading the government to grow larger and more destructive to liberty and freedom. Truth be told, the environmentalist movement is not about saving the planet (if the truth was told, we would not have had Climategate in the first place). Goading the government to regulate, restrict economic prosperity and growth, and tax society to death is the nefarious objective Hansen is all too determined to achieve.

Here’s another fun snippet from the article: “While [Hansen’s] study was published online Saturday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, it is unlikely to sway opinion among the remaining climate change skeptics.”

Truer words have never been spoken! But do you notice how the author attempts to appeal to authority in order to bequeath credibility to global warming proponents by stating where the report was found? It was from a “prestigious” publication. How could it be false? Furthermore, the author’s phraseology implies that the thickheaded dunces who doubt man-made global warming are few and far between. Therefore, it’s time for them to hush and go back to living under the rocks from which they came.

Let me say that there are more than a few “skeptics” and that, due to Climategate, they have good reason to be skeptical. Climategate caused the entire foundation of anthropogenic global warming to be looked upon with tremendous skepticism and suspicion that should not be soon disregarded. Our liberty is at stake.

The article also revealed an interesting turn of events. Typically, conservatives and “skeptics” are accused of using anecdotal weather events to disprove human influence on the climate. Interestingly, Hansen’s study relied on three weather events to make his point: last year’s Oklahoma drought, the 2010 heat waves in the Middle East and Russia, and a devastating heat wave in Europe in 2003. I guess cooking the books didn’t work for some devious climate scientists, so they had to fall back on anecdotal evidence, picking and choosing what data they used to advance their agenda. But didn’t environmentalists proudly cry foul when “skeptics “would point out unseasonably cold temperatures to challenge the veracity of man-made global warming? It was often repeated (with much arrogance and condescension, I might add, from the scientific elite) that isolated weather events could not be used to disprove anthropogenic global warming. Oh, how the tables have turned!

Hansen goes on to state that, while his research was compiled before this year’s sweltering heat in the US, he is quick to point out that this year’s heat “is another prime example of global warming at its worst.” Hold on a second. We have already been experiencing global warming at its worst? I thought that “Day After Tomorrow” depictions, rising sea levels, no polar bears or polar ice caps, world famine, and a total, earth-scorching apocalypse was global warming  at its worst, not simply some elevated summer temperatures. Well, this is a cause for celebration, I say! The world isn’t ending! But wait. The article goes on to note that, “Hansen says now he underestimated how bad things would get.” This guy is all over the place. And, no, I think he overestimated. Anything less than a global warming induced apocalypse seems to detract from his claims and credibility. We haven’t experienced worldwide catastrophe predicted by the radicals like Hansen. Not even close. But, don’t go on what I say. After all, I’m just a lowly “skeptic.”

In one of the most telling and draw-dropping quotes from the article (you may want to sit down), Hansen describes his new found research methodology. “The new research makes the case for the severity of global warming in a different way than most scientific studies and uses simple math instead of relying on complex climate models or an understanding of atmospheric physics. It also doesn’t bother with the usual caveats about individual weather events having numerous causes.” (Emphasis added)

What? So, inclement weather can now have no other catalyst than man-made global warming? This is breathtaking to behold. How our weather comes to fruition is not a simple process. There are numerous aspects that affect it. We don’t even have a full breadth of knowledge pertaining to the weather. Yes, we’ve come a long way in our understanding, but weather is vastly complex and impossible to fully grasp, understand, and, much less, predict. Discounting these realities and defaulting to an “it must be global warming” position is asinine and the epitome of ignorance.

Moreover, it seems that Hansen is quick to change his research methods when they do not produce an answer he finds beneficial to his agenda. The “complex climate models” and study of “atmospheric physics” are thrown out, replaced by “simple math.” There’s nothing wrong with simple math; but, remember, most of global warming alarmism came as a result of predictions from the “complex climate models.” Since much of the critical data inputs to those models have been exposed as fraudulent, the duplicitous purveyors of man-made global warming believe it’s time to cast the computer modeling methodologies aside, get back to the basics, focus on anecdotes, and continue merrily down the path of global warming gloom and doom. Have they no shame? Apparently they do not. This is simply deplorable.