See my earlier posts on global warming below, but in the meantime I was struck by an interview I saw last week with Al Gore. The reporter had asked about people like myself who don't necessarily believe the "party line" on the causes of global warming. Mr. Gore compared us to people who "still believe the world is flat".
Well Mr. Gore, even though I've never actually been to outer space or in orbit I do believe the world is round. Kind of an oval actually, not exactly circular according to my education. But, that's not the point.
Today, I run across an article on the BBC's web site entitled "Global Warming 'dips this year'". (click the link to view the entire article) There are two main points here to ponder:
- 2008 will actually be much cooler than 2007 due to the global cooling effects of a very strong La Nina current in the Pacific ocean.
- Mean global temperatures (according to The World Meteorological Organization) have NOT risen since 1998.
Mean (or average) temperatures haven't risen in TEN years! What? How can that be!?!? Doesn't an "Inconvenient Truth" tell us that mean global temperatures are rising every year, year on year for the last century? Maybe I am mis-quoting, I'll admit I've only seen the movie once, but that's what I walked away with. What if Mr. Gore's Nobel prize is based on inaccurate, contrived scientific data? Well, wouldn't that be just a kick in the pants!
Regardless I do feel that humans as a whole have a pretty negative impact on our environment. The real challenge ahead for homo sapiens is to get our act together, rebuild our economies on something other than the burning/consumption of fossil fuels and solve the world's energy needs once and for all.
I'll leave you with one "ramble" on that last point. Here a link to an article in on CNN.com. C'mon folks, little ole Iceland is doing it, why can't the good old US of A?
