My guess is that Al Gore has not visited Grand Rapids, Michigan or Chicago recently.
It looks like I am getting out of Grand Rapids an hour and a half late. I will be speaking at the Westin Chicago Airport tonight at 7:30 PM.
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sigh …. and why would you guess that, given that global warming and climate change as explained by, amongst others, Al Gore is predicted to lead *exactly* to this kind of extreme weather?
The number of ignorant comments I see on this topic (mostly by Americans) is simply astounding, and more than a little scary ….
I agree with the above.
Calling it "global warming" was such a mistake because right away these snow days would come and people would say, "yeah right, global warming." This is why you are now seeing the shift to the phrase "climate change", which is a much better description of what's going on anyways.
And despite the amount of snow that Grand Rapids got (globally, who cares?), the bottom line is that our atmosphere and oceans are warming; glaciers are disappearing; sea-levels are rising.
Get over it, stop putting your head in the sand, and take responsibility.
The question isn't really whether or not our climate is changing – it is, the real question should be "are we arrogant enough to think that we are causing this change".
I'm not saying we shouldn't be good stewards of our planet – we should. But I think there is a frenzy about global warming that is not completely based on fact.
Well, I'll make it really easy for you. Three very realistic and proven facts:
1.) Humans emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any natural source and that emission is increasing on a global and temporal scale.
2.) Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and the higher its concentration in the atmosphere, the warmer the atmosphere.
3.) Our atmosphere is warming, leading to the warming of our oceans by radiation absorption (dark oceans, absorb heat and energy).
Now here's a fourth and fifth point, but maybe not proven since it largely involves forecast modeling and assumptions based on the laws of chemistry and physics (and any scientist will admit to this):
4.) Warming atmospheres and oceans will lead to global climate change.
5.) Global climate change will cause catastrophic events for the entire human population – mainly in the from of disappearing glaciers and sea-level rise.
The frenzy is caused by the media and politicians who take advantage of every scientists' admission to inherent uncertainty (this happens in absolutely every field of natural science). Just look at the scientific facts, don't pay attention to the frenzy, and I think you'll come around to the right conclusion.
In some ways, this requires faith in our academic institutions and the scientists doing the studies and publishing the results, and I do have faith in them. I really think they know their stuff and they are providing a community service.
Alex,
Not to be nit-pickey, but none of your "facts" effectively connected global warming with humans.
I agree climate change is the better phrase. But the world has gone through periods like this before…even before cars were around. Is it not possible there are some people set to profit from this climate change scare?