Ted Poe’s Claims Of Cooling Climate Don’t Match Facts
Last week, Ted Poe made some especially strong statements criticizing the science behind claims of global warming and related climate change. In a short speech Poe entitled Global Warming Is A Theory, Poe accused,
“The Nation had one of the coldest winters in years, including record snowfalls in the South; but the Warmers like Al Gore ignore the obvious, and still claim we are all going to perish, saying that Man is the threat to the planet. The groundhog is a better predictor of the weather than Al Gore.
Al Gore’s long-winded article in The New York Times over the weekend was long on claims and short on facts. He didn’t cite hard sources for his information. Like the rest of the global warming scientists, they are using fraudulent information. We are supposed to take their word for it now that basic data supporting their claims has, all of a sudden, disappeared. “
Actually, global warming is not a theory. It’s an observation that’s been achieved using standard scientific devices such as thermometers. In spite of what Congressman Poe claims, without citing any hard sources of information himself, a gradual increase in global temperatures has been measured, and that trend includes the last few months as well.
Let’s cite hard sources of information, as Representative Poe demands: The latest National Climatic Data Center State of the Climate Global Analysis finds that the 2000 to 2009 decade was the warmest ever recorded and that 2009 was tied with 2006 as the 5th warmest year on record. The Center also found that last December’s global ocean surface temperatures were the 2nd highest for any December in history and that January 2010 was the 4th hottest January ever – not the terrible chill that Ted Poe describes it to be based on his own anecdotal observations.
Climate change is something that needs to be assessed scientifically, not politically, and not through a glimpse at the Weather Channel. Responsible leadership from Congress will recognize that more than 20 years of careful analysis and observation, combined with rigorous testing, have led to the consistent finding that our planet’s climate is undergoing a significant shift, and one that’s likely to be caused in large part by human activities.
Postscript: The trouble with anecdotal evidence of the sort that Ted Poe uses is that it’s easily contradicted by other anecdotal evidence.
Here in Minnesota today, for example, I just took a mile-long walk outside without any coat on, or hat, mittens, scarf, or boots. I was quite comfortable in the balmy sunshine, though it’s still winter.
Do you think Ted Poe is going to talk about that weather anomaly any time soon?
What are the facts that link weather changes to human activity and how long has this study been underway. According to some web sites, should Cap and Trade be instituted in the U.S. if will only reduce the warming trend in the world by .05% and will devistate our economy and our country. China has been building coal plants at the rate of four plants per year with no regard to the environment. They as well as India and other countries are ignoring any implementation of constricting their output of CO2 into the atmosphere.