Global Warming or Climate Change

By  John Upton Humanity is about to experience a historically unprecedented spike in temperatures. That’s the ominous conclusion of a  vast and growing body of research  that links sweeping Pacific Ocean cycles with rates of warming at the planet’s surface — warming rates that could affect how communities and nations respond to threats posed by climate change. Papers in two leading journals this week reaffirmed that the warming effects of a substantial chunk of our greenhouse gas pollution have been avoided on land for the last 15 to 20 years because of a phase in a decades-long cycle of ocean winds and currents. With Pacific trade winds expected to slacken in the years ahead, the studies warn that seas will begin absorbing less of global warming’s energy, and that some of the heat they’ve been holding onto will rise to the surface. Extreme heat can exacerbate drought. Credit:  Kecko  /Flickr “Their results make sense to me, and are consistent w...

This Aug. 12, 2013, satellite image captures the vast Pacific Ocean, whose variability may explain a temporary slowdown in the rate of global warming. (AFP photo / HO / NASA Goes Project) It was the biggest climate change talking point of 2013 and beyond — the idea that global warming had slowed down, paused or, as some put it, hit a “ speed bump .” The argument was widely used by climate doubters to undermine the mega-release of the U.N.’s fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. And no wonder, for it came, to a substantial extent, from scientists themselves. The IPCC itself  acknowledged  that the rate of warming from 1998 to 2012 had been somewhat slower than the rate of warming since 1951. Ever since, climate scientists have been trying to explain why the world has seen a somewhat slower rate of warming in recent years — and publishing multiple papers on the topic. Now, though, a  new study in the journal  Science   suggests tha...

Climate scientists say Earth's recent slowdown in warming is the result of decades-long heating and cooling cycles in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (NASA/Barcroft) It's been dubbed both a "pause" and a "faux pause," and it's ignited debate among climate scientists and their critics. After a period of rapid global warming throughout most of the 20th century, the pace of global temperature rise has slowed greatly over the last 10 to 15 years. This unexpected slowdown has raised questions about the accuracy of climate change forecasts, and sent scientists searching for an explanation. In a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, climate researchers argue that this slowdown is the result of natural and decades-long variations in sea water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. These decadal oscillations, or swings, in sea temperature are tied to changes in ocean currents and wind patterns, according to researchers, and will ...

Altogether too frequently we hear forecasts of awesome disasters due to so called Climate Change or Global Warming. Many politicians view the whole thing as a means of gaining power and accumulating mountains of money, (just ask Al Gore!). Much of the climate change is blamed on carbon dioxide, however it has now been determined that increase of this gas occurs after a warming cycle rather than causing it. We have the California Air Resources Board which is going to tax manufacturers for every ton of carbon dioxide emitted (cap and trade scheme), so look for higher prices on electricity, fuel and manufactured goods. Also the use of corn to make ethanol has caused price increases in gasoline as well as rises in food prices, another downside to ethanol is the fact that fuel economy is sacrificed. As far as temperatures rising or falling, well that has been a fact of life since Earth was created. Why spend billions on alternate energy sources and still have to maintain...

By  Pedro Gonzales The giant 600-foot tidal wave roared large over the remote Eskimo village of Kivalina.  Kumaglak's infant son Inuksuk gave a whimper of fear as he clung tighter to her bosom.  Kumaglak heard the screams of her fellow villagers as the tidal wave started to descend on the small Eskimo village.  As the giant wave of water was about to hit her, her last thought was not of the hot spicy kisses of her boyfriend Umlaut, or the tasty walrus tusks she had boiled for dinner, but rather an odd pang of regret for holding on to her coal-fired stove when Al Gore had offered her a perfectly good solar cooker for her igloo... I may think that I'm a good fiction writer, but I'm an amateur compared to the  expert propagandists at the  Washington Post .  They wrote about the small Eskimo village of Kivalina, which they claimed has to be evacuated due to global warming. This tiny and isolated town of 400 cannot be reached by road. It lies...

ASHLAND, Ore. ,  Feb. 26, 2015  /PRNewswire/ -- International climate change and rainforest experts warned that without drastic and immediate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and new forest protections, the world's most expansive stretch of temperate rainforests from  Alaska  to the coast redwoods will experience irreparable losses.  Photo -  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150225/177975 Photo -  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150225/177976 Using global climate models, researchers assessed changes in temperature and precipitation from recent to future climatic conditions projected toward the end of the century if emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation continue to rise.    According to the lead researcher, Dr.  Dominick A. DellaSala , Chief Scientist of Geos Institute, "In the Pacific Northwest, the glass is half empty as the climate may no longer support rainforest communities like coast redwood,...

Global warming alarmists frequently make false and deplorable assertions (see, for example, my recent column debunking  false claims that global warming is causing a decline in wheat production ), but the Environmental Defense Fund’s recent fund-raising mailer, “10 Global Warming Effects That May Shock You,” may well set a new low. However, climate realists can make lemonade from EDF’s preposterous mailer by using it to show open-minded people the difference between global warming alarmists and  global warming truth-tellers . EDF has assembled what it believes to be the 10 most powerful global warming assertions in the alarmists’ playbook, yet each assertion either backfires on alarmists or has been proven false. While reading how flawed EDF’s assertions are, remember these are the very best arguments global warming alarmists can make. Open-minded readers should have very little difficulty dismissing the mythical global warming crisis after examining the top 10 assertions ...