04.05.2010 11:52 AM

Global warming’s a myth, eh?

I just got word that the ice on the lake where my cabin’s located – and, apparently, hundreds of other lakes in Ontario – “went out” on the weekend. As in, it’s gone.

This is an unprecedented event, something that few can remember happening before: the ice melting away a full month early.

For me, this means participation in Friday Power Play shows will end a month earlier than scheduled – and, of course, I’ll get to enjoy the cabin for a full extra month.

For the planet, however, it may be not so good.

34 Comments

  1. D. says:

    I was just thinking the same thing as I was tanning, and burning, in nothing but cut-offs – in Ancaster, Ontario no less, on APRIL FUCKING 4th? This will be the summer the earth says ‘I’ll show them.”

    D.

  2. Joel Coates says:

    Jeezuz Murphy, Warren. Give your head a shake.

    I have a Doctorate in Physical Geography. My specialization is ice-age glaciation.

    We are in an interglacial warming period.

    You clearly do not understand the difference between climate and weather.

    All current data indicates this will persist for a few more ten of thousands of years. Anyone who claims otherwise is an uninformed idiot and/or a political trouble maker with an agenda.

    The so-called human footprint on climate is a pack of lies.

    • Tom says:

      Can you please point me to the papers that you have published on the subject?

      • Andrew says:

        I agree with Tom. Please provide the refereed papers that support your assertion.

        If you have a PhD in Physical Geography, specializing in ice-age (which one?) glaciation, why can’t you be found on the web sharing your insights?

        • klem says:

          What are you two people idiots? Back here on earth, you don’t need refereed papers to support anything. Just ask Al Gore, he got a Nobel for a propaganda movie.

        • MP says:

          Not seeking to slander anyone, but I googled “Joel Coates” and ice. Among the results included someone posting on Usenet under the name “Voltaire” and the email address: coatesj [at] telus [dot] net

          The author lists themselves as a technical writer from Calgary, which sounds about right.

          However, if one clicks on that email address, you are then directed to the murky world of alt.lifestyle.master-slave where an author under that telus email address discusses an interesting experiment where he buried his “recalcitrant” slave in a rain barrel full of sand and kept her there for a period of six hours. Lucky girl.

          All in all, it was an entertaining journey of discovery.

          Thoughts?

    • Elizabeth says:

      What is “a few more ten of thousands of years”, in time lingo?

      How does ice-age glaciation tie in with a PhD in physical geography? I thought all geography was physical? Doesn’t make sense.

      And – what’s your political agenda?

  3. Jim says:

    Warren – This nice weather no more proves global warming than last year’s unseasonably cool summer (or this year’s huge snowstorms in the US) disproved it.

    Seriously, this is exactly the type of argument that you find on the various right-wing blogs – “It wasn’t very hot on August 7th, 2009 so AGW must be part of a vast-Marxist conspiracy to force me to take the TTC!”.

  4. Read Much? says:

    The amount of sea ice covering the Arctic dramatically increased last month, reaching levels not seen at this time of year for nearly a decade.

    Yes, as Joel says, “Give your head a shake.”

    • klem says:

      Yes but increased Arctic ice is still more evidence of anthropogenic climate change. ACC predictions cover every eventuality, if the ice cap shrinks it is bad and due to ACC, if the ice cap grows it is also bad and due to ACC. Thats the beauty of ACC, all predictions have been made and no matter what weather event actually happens the prediciton is found correct. It’s beautiful really.

  5. Dave says:

    You will find that nothing gets people more riled up in blog comment sections than talk of global warming/climate change/environmentalism.

    http://greenupgrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/climate_denier_cartoon-550×367.jpg

  6. Phil says:

    Warren, please learn the difference betwee MAN made global warming (which is a crock of doodoo) and natural global warming. Please pass it on to the lemmings of the hypocrites like Suzuki and Gore who are making millions off of gullible bourgeoisie.

  7. Big Winnie says:

    You certainly touched a nerver there Warren. You can always tell the right wingers by their absolute climate change denial but I also believe that we, as a human race, are “killing” this planet. Also, I have more trust in Suzuki et al, as opposed to our current non-climate change believing government.

  8. AC says:

    “This is an unprecedented event, something that few can remember happening before”

    Which is it? I know you want to make a this-proves-global-warming point, but if it has happened before, what are you really proving?

  9. Robert K. says:

    Try having a discussion on global warming at the corner of Portage and Main in early January and folks will tell you to bring it on!

  10. Jon Evan says:

    Interesting endless discussion, but those who claim that human kind can destroy the earth really give humanity too much credit and power! Those who are of the Muslin/Jewish/Christian faiths take heart in the Words of the ancient Torah which says that: “if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.” (Leviticus 18:26).

    In essence, only He who made the earth is allowed to destroy it. I take consolation in that and only that.

    • Jan says:

      Oh great, I can burn those old tires without feeling guilty at all. Praise the God of Loopholes!

    • Be_rad says:

      I use Leviticus to make all my most important decisions. It gives very clear instructions on how to make my burnt offerings and which animals to choose for different circumstances. I am running out of animals in some of my different herds, though, and am worried about my upcoming decision about whether to go with a fixed or variable rate on my mortgage.

      It’s not easy living by Leviticus; don’t get me wrong. I had to give up shrimp, because they are an equal abomination to being gay.

  11. joshua says:

    Apparently global warming is full of hot air, since there hasn’t been any ‘statistically significant’ warming over the past 15 years! Not to mention all the other problems its facing!

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250872/Climategate-U-turn-Astonishment-scientist-centre-global-warming-email-row-admits-data-organised.html

  12. Elizabeth says:

    Alberta is definitely warmer, and more alarmingly – drier. For those who have livestock like horses – it is quite alarming. Every year a round bale of hay is more expensive, and more scarce.
    The glaciers are retreating, the water table is not-so-hot, not to mention it’s being affected by the massive developments of peach palaces here – each one of whom wants a “hobby farm” of 3 acres or so.

    People are losing interest in cattle ranching, the next generation doesn’t want to do it – which I think is not a bad thing. Cattle are incredibly hard on the land, and consume huge amounts of water. One expert has written a book based on the way the Bushmen of the Kalahari have managed water for centuries – and feels that we’re going to have to follow suit if we’re smart; stop eating cattle, and start hunting drought resistant animals like deer and antelope. I stopped eating red meat ages ago – there seems to be no good reason to eat it, from nutrition to the environment.

    Mother Nature will balance it all out – and if it means we’re wiped out as a species, it’s not going to hurt the planet at all. The ants will rule.

    Climate-crisis-deniers will have one thing in their favour – they won’t know what hit them.

  13. Tim says:

    Ask the people of Europe, who just came through the harshest, snowiest winter they’ve had in decades, if they agree.
    It was El Nino that gave us this screwed up winter, according to Environment Canada.

  14. Andrew says:

    How did Al Gore get into this discussion? First of all I agree that Al Gore is a doofus but that is a requirement for most politicians. Klem falls into the classic anti-warmer stance: insult people (Joel can’t resist either) and then bring up Al Gore. My question (and Tom’s) to Joel Coates was if he has a PhD in Physical Geography specializing in “ice-age glaciation” why I can’t seem to find a record of him on the web (which is not overly important). If he is an authority on climate change, then please provide the links to the papers he has published in a refereed scientific journal or papers that others have published. I don’t think it is an unfair question. Klem appears to question the validity of refereed papers but science published and discussed in journals is the best way of disseminating and debating science. You don’t do it in newspapers, TV or in blogs. That is no longer science but rather a popularity contest. I try to trust the science because scientists are a pretty competitive lot and they love to shoot holes in each other’s arguments in order to make the science more robust. The scientific journals provide a great forum for this.
    Mr. Kinsella’s observation is that the ice has disappeared from his lake earlier that “few can remember happening before”. That is an observable fact that the ice is gone. Is this due to climate change or is it due to weather? This year we had a very strong El Nino so the West had a lousy warm winter (if you need to drill wells in the frozen muskeg or you are a skier!). So it is possible that the warmer weather in Ontario is the result of that. “Read Much” brings up the current state of Arctic ice cover but again one month doesn’t make a trend. Long term (decades) climatic trends seem to suggest that the Earth is warming. Even Richard Lindzen and Roy Spencer, two well known anti-warmers, agree on that. So the question is if the warming that we have seen over the last century is caused by natural cycles (there is plenty of evidence for this in the geological record and has never been denied by climate scientists) or is it anthropogenic? Temperature and CO2 content in our atmosphere have steadily risen over time and lately at a rate that is cause for concern. Temperature has also disconnected itself from solar cycles, so are we the cause for this warming? The majority of scientific evidence seems to support this (I await Klem’s cries of “Climategate!” preceded by an insult). The majority of major scientific organizations agree that anthropogenic warming is happening. The two that don’t are the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. I doubt this is coincidence. I am afraid that these organizations are dominated by scientists that appear to have ideological blinkers on them when it comes to climate science. They see only what they want to see. Klem, Read Much and Joel might also be in the same boat.

    • klem says:

      “Temperature has also disconnected itself from solar cycles, so are we the cause for this warming? The majority of scientific evidence seems to support this (I await Klem’s cries of “Climategate!” preceded by an insult). ”

      You’re ugly and remember Climatgate!!

  15. Albertosaurus says:

    Climate change may be the macro threat, but it is the micro threats from endocrine disrupting chemicals being released into the environment that should be getting as much attention. Molecular level toxic waste in air and water that infiltrates of bodies, alters our hormones, causes cancers, disrupt reproductive abilities, alter brain functions and destroys our genes that may truly doom our species (and many others.)

    Whether it’s that or climate change both problems stem from the same source and line of chemo-industrial thinking: that we can use the earth – be it the atmosphere, water systems or soils – as a garbage dump for our pollutions (while striping the planet’s carrying capacity to support life) and expect no kind of consequence.

  16. What a steaming pile of moose-dung.. that would be like me proclaiming last year that the new global ice age was upon us (remember the 70’s?) as we were in minus-temps and still over a foot of snow in April.

    White peeps – sheesh!!

    • Andrew says:

      Ah, the Ice Age in the 70’s canard. Another anti-warmer staple. Thomas Peterson of NOAA and co-authors (2008) conducted a search of the scientific literature to determine if the scientific consensus supported global cooling in the 70’s. Their conclusion was no. In fact the media (like it does on every topic) likes the sexy angle and runs with it. Blame the media for the cooling, not the scientists.

  17. When will u guys learn. There is global warming, but not because your cottage had a warm winter. Independent issues and all that.

    The more you link climate to weather events, the more you give the deniers ammunition to fight you with.
    I guess the extra cold winter out west means that global cooling has taken hold.

    Please stop helping the deniers by trying to use anecdotal evidence as proof. It allows them to do that as well.

    BTW, lets keep closing coal fired plants while shipping our coal to china where it gets used in coal plants that have a fraction of the controls. Makes good sense, Right? We’re the good guys, right? We’re just fueling their bad stuff, plausible deniability, right?

    “China overtook Japan last year as Canada’s third-largest export partner as trade with countries other than the United States continued to gain in importance, according to Statistics Canada.
    Exports to China rose for the seventh year, gaining 6.6% to $11.2 billion, StatsCan said. The gain was driven mostly by demand for canola, iron ores, COAL and other bituminous substances, StatsCan said. “

  18. klem says:

    “The more you link climate to weather events, the more you give the deniers ammunition to fight you with.”

    Um, try this ; “The more you link climate to weather events, the more ammunition you give to the deniers.” A bit better.

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