Folks, I feel silly that it took me this long to come around, but here it is. After believing in Global Warming for years now, I have seen the light. Most surprisingly, it came in the form of a single-panel political cartoon I found on the web. Here it is.
My god, it’s so simple! I have never heard that argument before! Until this very moment, I had never seen anyone use the incredibly astute observation that it still gets cold late in the year, and thus invalidates the entire theory of Global Warming!
See, I had foolishly believed that a global average temperature increase of 2 degrees would be fairly unnoticeable given the changing of seasons, but oh how wrong I was. It seemed logical that if winter averages -20 degrees Fahrenheit on a given day, upping it to -18 would be hard to notice. But no, no, no. You see, I was unaware that an offshoot of Global Warming is the complete eradication of seasonal weather changes.
The Earth normally has a tilted axis that causes the seasons. During the winter, a given portion of the globe is tilted away from the sun and that makes it colder. Then the tilt changes and the seasons flip around. What I didn’t realize was that if global warming was true, it would actually straighten the tilt and turn the planet into a cylinder so it all got warmer at the same time and there would be no winter at all anywhere. After all, it’s called Global WARMING. How can it be real if it’s not always warm?
I had also, for some reason, thought that the average temperature increase would be an AVERAGE. Mathematically, that would mean that even if the coldest days stayed the same or even got a little colder, if the warmer days were warmer than normal then the average would still go up. To use a horribly ill thought out example (I’m embarrassed to admit I thought of it), if normally your winters average 20 degrees F and your summers average 90 degrees F, the year averages to 55 degrees F. If the next year the winter gets colder, down to 19 degrees F, but the summer temp averages 95 degrees F, now the year’s temperature is 57 degrees F and that’s an increase.
Wrong again! Clearly, for Global Warming to be true, EVERY day would have to blazingly hot. Oh sure, some of the matharazzis would say that if every day is 95 degrees, that would actually be an average temperature increase of roughly 40 degrees in our example, but that’s just the alarmists trying to ignore the plain and simple truth: if Global Warming were real, why is it cold outside?
Take THAT, Al Gore! Your charts and scientifically reviewed studies simply don’t stand up to this bulletproof logic.
I sincerely -hope- I detect tongue -firmly- implanted in cheek with all that. Either that or one of my legs getting longer because it’s being pulled so hard.
While I don’t completle agree with global warming, most of the arguments are not with the fact that it just simply gets warmer.Alot of the arguments are in the fact that it Global warming will cause(and some argue ‘is causing) and increase in drastic changes in weather, from hot to cold, which can cause, and in themselves are natural disasters.
paularoid:
I hope YOU’RE kidding about your uncertainty.
Failing to “agree with” global warming is like failing to “agree with” evolution: It’s not a theory, it’s a demonstrable, proven fact. *Why* it occurs or *how* it occurs is debatable, but the fact that this change has been happening is no longer open to rational debate. Whether it is human-influenced is, in some small-minded circles, still argued. Personally, I was always taught to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst–os I figure, if we assume that global warming can( and is) caused in part by human action, we’d better do something about it, since its effects could be devastating. Sticking our collective heads in the sand won’t do anyone any good in the long run.
yo calm damn its a god damn comic its meant to funny. Global Warming is real but dude you got to get a sense of humor, i found that comic funny. geez…
stop trying already
Thank you. The most oft overlooked fact in the whole mess is that historically the earth goes through periods of warming and cooling. These cycles cause upheavals in “what we are used to experiencing” and make life uncomfortable for a period…take the various ice ages (notice the plural.) I’m not saying that global warming is not a fact, but I am saying that when viewed over long periods of time it is demonstrably less worrisome than many would have us believe. The known shift in position of magnetic north could possibly be as much to blame as anything mankind has actually caused. Next big theory will probably be something about global warming or cooling in the pre-historic eras related to excess methane released from animal feces or something. While we should be diligent in not overtly causing massive damage to our “mother earth” we must realize that some change will happen regardless of anything we try to control because nature is a more powerful force than we can, as humans, control.
Actually, it’s colder in winter not, “…because a given portion of the globe is tilted away from the Sun”, – the Earth still rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours – but it has everything to do with THE ANGLE at which the Sun’s light rays strike the Earth. Another interesting fact, we are actually CLOSER to the Sun in winter, not summer, that’s another one people get wrong all the time!
To the person who states that global warming along with evolution are proven facts. Please sir look up the definition of fact and proven and also theory also perhaps you might want to check out the conflicting science against both global warming and evolution. I dont disagree that humankind is doing damage to the envirnment and i hope that we will as a race change many of our destructive ways in order to leave this planet as we found it. Now look into Gores movie of an inconvenient truth and then view it with a “real” scientific perspective my point is that Gore has exaggerated his numbers and conclusions for the sake of scaring people into his frame of thinking. Explain why in the 70′s leading scientists reported on a global cooling trend? Explain how we can have enough base data on the history of our weather on earth to determine what should be normal? I mean considering that the earth is supposed to have been here for billions of years and humans have been around for about 7,000 of those years. Listen to some of the criticism and then attempt to answer those criticisms while maintaining your position. If you can after leaving your position open and in fact welcoming criticism and you remain unchanged after all that then you will have a stronger position and will have learned far more about what you claim to believe. As for evolution it is a thery and one that remains unproven even today. I beleive in natural selection and breeding to emphasize genetic traits but as for evolution i have many reasons not to believe it. In short evolution doesnt hold up to scientific scrutiny, conceptualy it seems to make sense but in an ironic twist it is by viewing it with a rational and scientific mind that evolution fails. Read the book Darwins black box i cannot remember the author but he is a credible and noted microbiologist who has been published many times in scientific journals. In taht book he provides much insight into the theory of evolution and then pics it apart with indisputible reason and logic. Dont post on a website or argue with someone by making the end all statement that im right and your wrong, use evidence and arguments to make your point.
the average global temperature has increase and ENTIRE degree celsius over the past century… how do you know that this is not due to the accuracy of the measuring instruments? or to scientists who manipulate their data in order to ‘prove’ theories right? and what about this years average temperature being 0.7 degrees colder than last? doesnt seem to be getting warmer…
Kevin: Just to clear something up for you, the angle at which the sun’s rays hit the earth varies seasonally due to the earth’s axial tilt with relation to the sun, i.e. the difference between the celestial and ecliptic equators. As such, in the winter, the Northern hemisphere is angled away from the sun and yes, winter is actually caused because ‘a given portion of the globe is tilted away from the sun’.
What you say? Global warming is a sham, well, me and my environmental ways.
Hey Larry! This guy on teh internets says that we don’t need to worry about teh global warming anymore, you can burn those old tires again!1
Try to lose the “Global Warming” tag, and replace with “Climate Change”.
There, that’s better.
Ryan, wouldn’t you consider a phenomenon that we can observe in a controlled environment a fact? Yes, Darwin conceived a theory of evolution, but scientists have since actually observed evolution. That makes it a scientific fact. For one example, look up antibiotic-resistant infections.
You do realize this is satyre correct?
Wow, lots of people that just refuse to accept Global warming. That’s fine. I really hope you’re right. I hope all of the scientists are wrong, and you are right. After all, why be conservative when it comes to the environment and natural resources? We should feel free to use the Earth liberally. There’s no way 6 billion creatures could have any affect on something so massive. Either way, Jesus is coming back to fix it all in a few years anyhow…he doesn’t care how bad we mess the place up, he’s cool that way.
I breezed over most of the comments but was there mention of the FACT that the sun is getting hotter? The heat from the sun has increased by 30% over time.
Global warming is a reality but the cause can not be so easily tied to greenhouse gases and such without first addressing the increased heat created by the sun itself.
As the sun keeps increasing its heat the polar caps will keep melting, during that time the thawing (releasing cold) will help to balance temps but once the cap are gone the heat will start the serious increase and the closer planets will one day “cook”. But you need to look a little farther than a tail pipe or smoke stake for the real cause of global warming- look at the sun son!
You need not be brighter than a porch light bulb to see this one. But you do need to have the light on at least.
There is a reason why Mars is so interesting to us and U-Haul better have some shuttles ready.
I often wonder: Is the climate change everyone is freaking out about normal? With the length of time we’ve been tracking these statistics vs. the age of our planet, how do we know this isn’t all part of a bigger pattern?
This isn’t an argument against global warming, the facts and figures, proof and consequence are all around us, but always keep an open mind.
The sun is getting hotter?
Are you saying that the Earth is absorbing and retaining a greater percentage of the sun’s radiation, or are you actually saying that the output of radiation coming from the sun has increased by 30%?
If it’s the latter, I have to say, I’ve not heard that one. I also have to say that, until you provide some sort of reference for a claim like that, it’s going to take more than your unsubstantiated word on an internet thread to make me take it seriously.
On the surface, it sounds patently absurd. If the sun’s output increased by 30%, we’d be getting a little more toasty than we are.
Granted, in several billion more years, when the sun dies, it will become a red giant, and eventually a white dwarf. It will expand to a size which completely envelopes Earth’s orbit. That’s several billion years down the road, though.
The point is, we can no longer afford to ignore the data. Even if you don’t believe that global climate change is being caused by human activity, what will ultimately be the cost to us, if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing all along. Then, we find out, “oh, it was us, after all!” I’d love to find out that it’s all part of some natural cycle, one that can’t be measured except in scales of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. We don’t have that luxury, though. We can’t afford to sit around and do nothing, debating whether or not the problem is real, and if we’re the cause or not. We need to act now, or it will be too late. The changes will become a self-perpetuating chain-reaction, and nothing and nobody will be able to stop it.
If global temperatures raise on average by 5-6 degrees, it will release frozen methane lying at the bottoms of the oceans. That, in turn, will raise the temperature by another 5-6 degrees. If it hits 10, not only will it be very uncomfortable, it will be the end of probably 90% of all life on Earth.
Don’t believe me? It’s already happened before. Scientists call it the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event.
Obviously everyone else did a good job at telling you what a lame asshat you are… but i figured I would remind you that you are obviously an idiot too..
Al Gore will save you!
The point of this was that it seems like every year someone actually thinks they’ve hit on something by mentioning that it gets cold, and that global warming doesn’t make sense because of it. I’ve heard it on Rush as well as smaller stations, and these people are far from just making an idle joke.
This was a quick exercise in my annoyance with anyone who thinks they’re either being clever or intelligent with such a comment. As commentary it’s just plain stupid, and as a joke it’s the political cartoon equivalent of “so what’s the deal with airline food?” It’s been done a million times.
I think it might go something like this …
An overall warming melts snowpacks and ice sheets
at the pole areas and below. The cold water released at the poles cools the major ocean currents, causing a cooling effect on land masses effected by those currents. Thus appearing that there is no warming of the earth at those places. Many human habitats may only see the effects of melting that is cooling the ocean currents at this stage of the process.
Meanwhile, ice fields and snow cover are not
recovering at the poles. Mountain snow cover is
being reduced. At what point will the processes stop cooling the ocean currents and enter the next phase?
More to the point, WHY is it happening, and seriously to the point, WHO will take the money and administer the laws trying to regulate it? The UN? Corruption, Corruption, Corruption. 25% of the pollution in California is generated by China. Who will force China to comply? The U.S. refused to sign the Kyoto agreement, but has actually beaten those requirements, while the French and Germans are having some, ah, difficulties in complying. Sorry about that, mon ami.
Any historian is aware that climactic change has caused disasters since before writing began, from the drying up of the Sahara ca. 6000 B.C. to the mini ice age from 1600 A.D. that we are only now coming out of. The flowering of the late Midieval period and the Renaissance ca. 1450 coincides with better crops and more wealth caused by a warming period 1200 A.D. to 1600 A.D, and a four hundred year cycle is apparent since before ancient times. There are other cycles. Right or wrong, the people who are crying wolf the loudest are hoping to get cash and control out of this.
BTW, I marched on the very first Earth Day in 1971. Back then they were worried about global cooling. They needed cash and control back then, too, instantly, or we would all “Freeze in the Dark.” Now they need cash and control, instantly, or we’ll all fry. We are all watching “The Tragedy of the Commons” in slow motion.
Is the earth getting warmer? Maybe. Am I making the world warmer by driving my SUV to the 7-11? Don’t think so. Did they have SUVs back in the ice age? Don’t think so. So why did the Glaicers melt without SUVs? When did the ICE AGE stop? Was it when Ford devolped the model A or was it the model T?
Damian, you’re using the “one small piece can’t make a difference thus the puzzle is irrelevant” theory that gets people to not vote. It’s like saying if I smoke a single cigarette I won’t die, so chainsmoking all day long can’t do anything, or because my single vote won’t decide elections there’s no point in it.
You’re right, just one instance means nothing, but millions upon millions certainly do. As for the glaciers melting, that’s a poor example because you have to look at the full timeline. You’re aware there were multiple ice ages, right? Around seven, if memory serves.
They indeed stopped due to cyclical temperature changes. Problem: the cycle is changing now. The CO2 in the air is exponentially higher than it has ever been in the past 650,000 years. If you don’t believe that we can make a difference in the atmosphere, go to any heavily populated city and breathe in the air, then go to somewhere way out in the flatlands like Wyoming and inhale the difference.
You’re using the same super-simplified model that I criticized in that comic up top.
From NOAA (October 2006):
-52nd coolest October on record (1895-2006).
-All regions near to or below normal temperature (first time since February 2003 with no regions above average temperature).
source: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/oct/national.html
Well your SUV sure isn’t making things *colder*! Easter Island was deforested one tree at a time in the name of vanity. Get the hell off my island.
Global warming is real people.
And it is caused by a lack of pirates. I’ve seen the data.
Yes, the earth’s mean temperature fluctuates quite a bit. The problem is when the fluctuations are more frequent, or have a larger amplitude then before. The earth will always strive to be in some sort of balance. We ARE disturbing the natural balance. As someone else here said, 6 billion people have an effect on the earth. There is no possible way we don’t, and it doesn’t take a scientist to see that. I remember someone once saying that, “every single joule of energy the earth gets from the Sun is used, has to be used, somewhere.” The earth has been in a balance, albeit a somewhat turbulent one, for millions of years. The earth can take a lot, and still come out OK… Of course, 90% of life on the earth may die off in the process of returning balance. Unforunately, I don’t think people realize the extent of the effect we have on the world. I hate attitudes like Damian’s above. The, “I’m just one person attitude.” You’re 1 person who is a representative of 6 billion people. If you think that way, why wouldn’t other people? You are making a difference, because there are billions of you. How can you even hope that other people will try and save the planet, if you won’t.
As for the person who says global warming is caused by the sun getting hotter. The Sun, as it is, has a life measured in billions of years. Most of that life is lived in relative stability. We’re talking a scale of hundreds of years in terms of global warming. Try to understand the difference in scales we’re talking about.
“I had never seen anyone use the incredibly astute observation that it still gets cold late in the year, and thus invalidates the entire theory of Global Warming!”
Global Warming does not mean that winter won’t happen, it means that winter may not be as cold/as long as it was previously.
“Then the tilt changes and the seasons flip around. What I didn’t realize was that if global warming was true, it would actually straighten the tilt and turn the planet into a cylinder so it all got warmer at the same time and there would be no winter at all anywhere.”
First off, the tilt doesn’t change. The Earth stays tilted at 23.5 degrees, but as the Earth moves around the Sun, the portion of the Earth that is tilted toward the Sun changes (its real simple, I learned it in elementary school). Second, Global Warming has no impact on Earth’s rotation or it’s tilt. Before you start talking about the Earth’s tilt, I suggest taking an Astronomy course at your local community college, I’m sure they would accept you.
“Clearly, for Global Warming to be true, EVERY day would have to blazingly hot.”
How about no. Global Warming says nothing regarding the day-to-day temperature on Earth, it is simply the observation that in recent history (since the Industrial Revolution), the average global temperature has increased.
Ha! Ha! I’m Using teh Intarne3ttz!
petre is right. we need more pirates. the evidence is here: http://venganza.org/
Tankerhank: “thawing (releasing cold) will help to balance temps”
Not so much. “Cold” is not a thing that can be released; it’s the absence of heat. When ice caps melt, warming is *accelerated* because less light is reflected back from the sun.
Oh, and as for the tired old debate on the meaning of the word “theory,” let’s consult a dictionary (Merriam-Webster). There are two meanings of this word that are getting muddled together:
1. a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena.
2. a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation; conjecture.
The “theory of evolution” and “theory of global warming” fall into the first category. The term “scientific law” is reserved only for the most fundamental principles. There is a “theory of gravity,” yet no one would say, “the theory of gravity is just that: a theory, not fact.”
With these kind of critical-thinking skills…why don’t you think up a snappy refutation for God. You seen awfully good at ramming a round peg into a square hole. Why not use your ability to see the world as an obtuse and selective reality, and do some good.
Convince the slobbering, FOX-watching, Bud-drinking, Bush-believing Republi-crits that the backbone of their bullshit … is bullshit.
This just in: Blog commenters take blog post that takes political cartoon far too seriously far too seriously. In a related story, Fark commenters take blog comments that take blog post that takes political cartoon far too seriously far too seriously far too seriously. Film at 11.
Karly, the earth stays tilted at 23.5 degrees? WHAT? before you go out attacking people on knowing their astronomy, you apparently never heard of axis change? The Earth, like a top, wobbles while it rotates, changing the axis every several hundred thousand years. Do you know what kind of effect that would have on our climate?
The Earth’s climate fluctuates; ever hear of ice ages? There’s a warming period too, and no it’s not called Global Warming as we know it.
So I don’t doubt the release of heat absorbing greenhouse gases may increase our temperature by a few degrees, which results in bigger climate changes, yes. BUT, the amount the climate will change over the Earth’s life is 10-fold that what we can do by our diesel trucks and our aerosol sprays.
I see a lot of references in the comments above about there is proof that global warming is not just a theory but fact, yet I notice there are no links posted to, well, prove the proof! Please someone post a link to a REAL scientific study that isn’t what a researcher THINKS is happening, but actually proves it is happening!
Marc, the better exercise would be to find a single peer-reviewed scientific study that concludes humans aren’t causing (or at least heavily accelerating) global climate change.
Actually, if you managed to do that, you’d have done something that no one in America has been able to do so far.
You fell for the “Population Bomb” scare tactics in the 70′s and the “Acid Rain” nonsense in the 80′s and the “Ozone Hole” idiocy in the 90′s too, didn’t you?
Fool.
#25 said: The CO2 in the air is exponentially higher than it has ever been in the past 650,000 years.
That is wrong. In fact, the temperature of the Earth, as measured at the equator, has remained constant — to within one (1) degree centigrade — for well over a billion years. During that time CO2 levels have fluctuated enormously, from much lower levels than today’s, to several hundred percent higher. Yet the intrinsic temperature of the Earth has not varied by even one degree centigrade. Therefore, CO2 has very little effect on the Earth’s temperature (source).
In addition, over six thousand scientists have already signed a letter by Dr. Fredrick Seitz of Rockefeller University, strongly questioning human-induced globaloney: (click)
Rather than getting enlightenment from a cartoon, it would be much more rational (but certainly more work) to read the peer-reviewed work of eminent, universally respected climatologists like the one in the first link above.
There are plenty of scientists who know that Al Gore’s scare stories don’t pass the smell test. Here’s a short article by one of them: click
God u people that think global warming is proven or that there is no doubt its there is stupid. Prove its happening. Earths climate and temperature change of there own accord no matter what. Even if we where all perfect. Even if the temp is increasing its because of earths own accord. If you look at the temperature gauges in the US record they show zero increase some show a drop in temp too. Now the other countries around the world we have are temperature and monitoring equipment in are in white boxes with ventilation holes in open fields. Do u actually think kenya is gunna spend the money to repaint them white again each year and to trim the trees above them so that the trees dont hold heat down there. and they gotta clean the ventilation or else the box heats up. Therefor temp rises and we assume we did it. its in a fucking box under the sun that isnt properly maintained and therefor looks like tis getting hotter. In the US where they are maintained we show no increase and some places a decrease. there are so many more easy facts that people choose to ignore because they must always find something wrong in everything and look for excuses to get money or just follow the bandwagon. bunch of retards this isnt even worth my time. when im 50 i will laugh at you all when the earth isnt any hotter then it is now.
Come on, if you don’t get the satire, you’re being idiotic. Satire. The original post about the cartoon is satire. This should be incredibly obvious. Those people who think Global Warming isn’t happening, listen to scientists, not Bill O’Reilly.
This looks like a lot of well read educated people on this site…but I am not sure how many are scientist themselves, with the actual data. We all read, and shift opinion accordingly.
I have some questions…
Does anyone believe there were ice ages in the history of the planet earth?
Does anyone believe sea levels have changed, creating and eliminating land passages such as the Berings Straits?
Does anyone believe oceans have existed where they no longer are present, eg west Texas?
Does anyone believe that now, since we have had the industrial revolution and life is good, that we can set the earth’s thermostat and hold it within a 0.5 C so we can continue life as we know it with no change?
The world has been warming since the mini-ice age 10,000 years ago. Deal with it.
There are lots of vested interests in the concept of global warming.
- indirectly taxing people to support conversion to non-hydrocarbon energy, to provide energy security for the western world, while protecting politicians from pushback…
…retarding the economic growth of China as the USA and the west fear its long term power…
…enriching the oil and energy companies and the dictators in the Middle East who have long supported the political powers, or become them….
but don’t throw away your intellectual integrity by believing this BS and that an SUV is going to flood Houston Texas.
Maturing sun=more heat from said sun. now… how long have we had ours?
One thing I’ve always wondered, and I think it’s a fair question:
If there’s a 50/50 chance that global warming is both real and caused by humans (which I think is a conservative estimate), why not err on the side of safety? Take the steps just to make sure?
Besides, it’d rid us of our reliance on fossil fuels which would keep us out of ridiculous wars like Iraq, and we’d have to stop playing buddy-buddy with Saudi Arabia.
I was actually told a few months ago that Global Warming is really just a natural effect and happens throughout aeons of history. I’m writing a report for my company that suggests that Global Warming is caused by the sun and I have seen the video of that one senator from Texas stating that Global warming is in fact caused by the sun (but you know, he’s a politician). I will always be a believer!