Global Warming Cheatsheet
1) Cause of global warming
Shock and Awe – Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases that trap and hold heat and which
amplify the heating effects of water vapor, turning the earth into a convection oven.
Contrarian position – A small greenhouse effect is possible, but the earth has always gotten cold or hot
whenever it wants to. Some solar scientists (admittedly a minority) believe in either a coming mini ice
age, which will surprise the climate scientists, while others believe that a solar Grand maximum tweaked
up temperatures in the 20th century.
Moderate or pragmatist position – Keep voting Democrat.
2) CO2, AKA Carbon Dioxide
Shock and Awe – CO2 has been climbing about 5% every decade. When will it stop? When it becomes
toxic? (levels above 1200?)
Contrarian position – This is great news. Plants are going to become more abundant as will animal life
and food which depends on plants, and negative feedbacks will continue moderating global
temperatures making this a healthier happier biosphere.
Moderate or pragmatist position – China and Russia pose major political roadblocks. Africa’s people
cannot be denied their fair share of cheap energy going forward. Countries that can afford to make
adjustments should go ahead, but not burden the “man in the street”.
3)
Temperature rise
Shock and Awe – Temperatures have been rising over 1 degree Celcius (2 Farenheit), for at least 150
years. This “Industrial revolution” thing is definitely not working out. Each one of the last four decades
(since 1971) has been hotter than the previous.
Contrarian position – Hot is the optimum. Many more people die from cold than from heat. The four
decade rise is only about 1.1 degree F.
Moderate or pragmatist position – Use sunscreen and drive smart cars.
4) The earth has never been this hot before
Shock and Awe – Previous interglacials were cooler. We know this from deuterium records in ice cores.
Contrarian position – Those ice core records indicate about the current amount of heating.
Moderate or pragmatist position – On every extravagant claim that is made in an article, there’s usually
a scientist behind it. You can use Google and Google Scholar to discover exactly what this scientist really
was saying, and if it completely made sense. Papers unavailable online can be obtained from university
libraries.
5) Flat temperatures for the last 16 years
Shock and Awe – All the heat is really going into the oceans. The oceans will feed it all back someday,
and you’ll be sorry! We’ve already seen the Arctic lose over half its ice last summer!
Contrarian position – Scientists still don’t have all the answers on this. Some scientists believe
“greening” from black carbon stole the heat, others believe in multiple negative feedbacks, such as
clouds and upper atmospheric heat loss, still others believe that CO2 temperature sensitivity is just
overrated and we have, “hit the limit”.
Moderate or pragmatist position – What’s the weather like?
6) Cow burps – the effect of Methane
Shock and Awe – Methane is present in the air at historically high levels, and causes warming. Reserves
of methane abound at the poles and elsewhere (even San Diego) as ‘clathate’, and could cause a
warming calamity if they are released. We need to get rid of as many ‘burping cows’ as we can!
Contrarian position – Methane (CH4) has been stable in the atmosphere for years (since the 1990’s
according to NASA). Clathate requires a very high temperature to change to atmospheric methane, so
we really don’t have anything to worry about.
Moderate or pragmatist position - Go veggie.
7) Computer models
Shock and Awe – Computer models have proven the horrible extent and effects of global warming. They
show that if nothing is done, the world will become virtually uninhabitable by the next century, and
difficult to live in during the last half of this century.
Contrarian position - Computer models are only as good as the programmer that makes them. Each of
these models uses parameters to input fixed estimates of climate and earth variables. These are
arbitrary unknowns about which science has no clue, which is why the models haven’t successfully
predicted reality.
Moderate or pragmatist position – Perhaps the models can be improved.
8) Sea level rise
Shock and Awe – Al gore predicts 60, no 20, no 8 feet of sea level rise. That’s good enough for me.
Seriously, computer models predict that the rise will increase as the temperatures rise. If Greenland and
or Antarctic glaciers melt, and they will, we will see the sea level rise a lot more.
Contrarian position – Sea level records show rising since the 19th century. The 20th century rate has not
increased much; sea level continues to rise at about .368 mm per year, or 4 inches per century.
Moderate or pragmatist position – Build a sea wall, or move.
9) Coral bleaching
Shock and Awe – That’s right, all the coral parks bleach from the heat, now white, then dead, then we’re
dead, etc. etc.
Contrarian position – Very few coral bleaching sites have been discovered, and studies show that coral
recover when this does happen.
Moderate or pragmatist position – Get out the paint.
10) Ocean acidification
Shock and Awe – CO2 flows into the ocean from the air. Some of the CO2 is transformed into an seashell
dissolving acid. As this process continues, (name your favorite shellfish) will not be happy.
Contrarian position – Each region of the sea has its own acidity level. If the acid in one of these areas is
not the correct level, the animals will likely adapt. The models don’t predict heating correctly, why
should we believe they predict acidity?
Moderate or pragmatist position – Build more shellfish farms.
11) Disappearing sea ice
Shock and Awe – We are seeing the Arctic sea ice diminish year by year. When it is gone it will hardly
come back, and the earth’s albedo will be so much lower that warming will spin out of control.
Contrarian position –Arctic ice has always decreased over the summer; this is nothing new. The
Antarctic sea ice extent continues to improve, and the average albedo of the earth would not decrease
by much, even if the ice shelf did disappear for some time.
Moderate or pragmatist position – The economy of the Arctic region is doing great with more tourism,
fishing and activity across the board.
12) Credibility
Shock and Awe – Just ask a scientist if he believes if global warming is manmade, and 98% will say yes!
Most scientific papers agree with the consensus. We’re right! We’re right! We’re right! The IPCC
(International Panel on Climate Change) has proven it!
Contrarian position – There are many exceptions, and we detect a tendency for people whose job
depends on it to ‘agree’ more often than others. Scientific studies have shown that basic science
knowledge and numeracy (ability to solve number problems) do not correlate with belief in global
warming. These extremely detailed and scientific contrarian positions and holes in the science make it
difficult for believers to win debates. Also, it’s very fishy how the press, academia, the Democratic Party,
the World Bank and the U.N. follow the believer side as consistently as they do. The IPCC consists of
scientists, but is really controlled by fact-spinning interns and their governments, besides, writing a
tome should be unnecessary if what you have said is true.
Moderate or pragmatist position – Keep an open mind, but beware of propaganda.