Typical traits of Global Warming Deniers include willful ignorance and a belief that this ignorance is a virtue.


Isaac Asimov - There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov



Prince Charles – The “Brits” sometimes have a way of explicitly describing the situation along with what should be done about it. According to Prince Charles, the proper treatment for Global Warming Denier is “to ignore the headless chicken brigade and do something practical to help.” link


Willful ignorance - http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance
“The practice can entail completely disregarding established facts, evidence and/or reasonable opinions if they fail to meet one’s expectations. Often excuses will be made, stating that the source is unreliable, that the experiment was flawed or the opinion is too biased.”


   The right-wing nuts and their followers (ignorant political-tribe groupies) would have you believe that “Global Warming”/“Climate Change” is a hoax/fraud/scam. The evidence, particularly as shown by repeat photography of glaciers, shows that Global Warming/Climate Change is real and is continuing. However, “Global Warming Deniers” persist in their ignorant claims that Global Warming is a hoax/fraud/scam.


The original picture above is from http://earthfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/glenn-beck-global-warming.jpg





   Global Warming Deniers misrepresent the scientific facts of Global Warming / Climate Change in multiple ways. The misrepresentations can take the form of paid political propaganda, ignorance, outright lies, etc. The people responsible for these misrepresentations can vary from “think tanks” and lobbyists that are financed by large corporations down to ignorant individuals.


   There seems to be a paranoia among the “Global Warming Deniers”. As a group, the deniers tend to exhibit a fear that various conspiracies/conspirators are out “to get them”. For example, if you run a Google search using << “Global Warming Deniers” paranoia >> you will get millions of hits.

   The same result shows up for prominent people within the Global Warming Denier movement. For example, try running a Google search using << Monckton “world government” >> (alternately << Monckton “big government” >> ) and see what happens.


   Then political tribalism takes over. Since the science disagrees with the preconceived political tribalism of Global Warming Deniers, the GWDs are convinced that the “scientists must be wrong” and are part of a conspiracy.

   Rush Limbaugh (college flunk out – “he flunked everything” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh ) is a classic example of this ignorant (and arrogant) political tribalism. Rush has become an icon for other ignorant Global Warming Deniers. (To be filed under “Misery loves company”)  Please see “Rush Limbaugh: Climate Change Misinformer of the Year” link

“We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn't a crime.”  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh

    Also, the ignorant voice of political tribalism is frequently obsessed by hatred. For example:
Limbaugh: “I hope Obama fails” Jan. 16, 2009
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2009/01/16/limbaugh_i_hope_obama_fails


The book “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot” by Al Franken is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
And as observed in chapter 22 – “Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Liar”.





  Rush Limbaugh is perhaps the “biggest” advocate of the pro-ignorance anti-science attitude that pervades large segments of the U. S. population. The following quote is from one of Rush Limbaugh’s radio broadcasts.
(Transcript at link - video excerpt and picture from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979738/ns/msnbc-up_with_chris_hayes/#47841375 )


Note that “academia” would include: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia University, U. of Chicago, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, etc.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

   Also, please see “Rush Limbaugh, chairman of the modern day anti-science Know Nothing party” at http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/37294_Rush_Limbaugh_Creationist (And Rush has confirmed that he is an ignorant creationist.)


   For a critique of Martin Durkin’s movie “The Great Global Warming Swindle”, please see http://www.durangobill.com/Swindle_Swindle.html. The web page also has multiple photographs of what has happened to glaciers over the last 50 to 100 years.




   This web page and its linked pages will provide some information about some of the people and organizations that misrepresent climate science - either from ignorance or willful lying - and sometimes, both.


Christopher Monckton - A vociferous Global Warming Denier Liar
http://www.durangobill.com/GwdLiars/GwdLiarsChristopherMonckton.html
Christopher Monckton has been one of the more vociferous noisemakers among the “Global Warming Deniers”. As is typical of Global Warming Deniers, Christopher Monckton is an expert at making noise, but is scientifically impaired when it comes to portraying reality. (Great qualifications if you want to be a politician or circus side show barker.)


   The “Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine” (OISM) advertises itself as “a non-profit research institute”. Global Warming Deniers frequently promote the “Oregon Petition” which is one of the OISM’s products. In reality, the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine is a farm in very rural Oregon some 6 linear miles southeast of Cave Junction, Oregon. (Population ~1,425  http://www.city-data.com/city/Cave-Junction-Oregon.html) Its founder/owner, Arthur B Robinson, promotes the “Robinson Curriculum” - a “Jesus-Plus-Nothing-Else” home-school system. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RobinsonUsers4Christ/ .


   New Zealand’s Franz Josef Glacier is a good case study of the ongoing retreat of world glaciers as opposed to the claims of the Global Warming Deniers. It has retreated a full mile since the 1920s, but you would never know it if you read the Ice Age Now’s list of “Growing Glaciers”.
Please see: http://www.durangobill.com/GwdLiars/GwdLiarsFranzJosefGlacier.html


   One of the false claims that Global Warming Deniers have been making in recent years is that “Global Warming Stopped in 1998”. As per usual, this claim is another deliberate GWD falsehood that can be easily debunked by looking at the actual observations.
The “Global Warming Stopped in 1998” Lie
http://www.durangobill.com/GwdLiars/GwdGlobalWarmingStoppedIn1998.html



   The “Science and Public Policy Institute” sounds very impressive. In practice it is a one-man (see http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/contact.html ) lobbying outfit (Republican Party) run by Robert Ferguson, whose climatology knowledge consists of “26 years of Capitol Hill experience”.

   There are two good sources for additional information about the “Science and Public Policy Institute” (SPPI). Both are recommended.
1) http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Science_and_Public_Policy_Institute
2) http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/2139


Roger Cohen’s proposed $5,000 bet
A (retired) Exxon Mobil executive’s attempt to use money to promote his personal agenda. (Which is to deny “Global Warming”.)


   “Steve J”  Steve is a typical example of the ignorant political groupies (as in “tribes”) who incessantly repeat the Global Warming Denier propaganda. Steve posts messages to Internet boards, but is embarrassed about revealing his full name. Based on his disdain for top quality educational institutions and his complete ignorance of observed data, it appears that Steve has a poor educational background.

http://www.durangobill.com/GwdLiars/FabiusMaximusIgnorance.html
The Fabius Maximus Website is an example of a Global Warming Denier website. A look at the evidence that GWDs lie, they are willfully ignorant, and they are wrong.






http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/11/19/climate-zombie-caucus/



The PrintScreen image above is from Republican Paul Ryan’s Internet page at:
http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=193671

GOP V. P. candidate Paul Ryan accuses climatologists of a “perversion of the scientific method, where data were manipulated to support a predetermined conclusion,” in order to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.”

The accusations are not true which makes Paul Ryan a LIAR.
(From “The Independent Climate Change E-mails Review” link
“On the specific allegations made against the behaviour of CRU scientists, we find that their rigour and honesty as scientists are not in doubt.”)
Also: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/12/climategate/



   If someone denies Anthropogenic Global Warming, it is a pretty good bet that the individual involved is a scientifically ignorant Republican. Additionally, it is most likely that that person is a member of the Tea Party Cult. (AGW – Global Warming caused by human activities.)

“It is very difficult to get a man to understand something when his tribal identity depends on his not understanding it.”
Michael Bérubé, a literature professor at Pennsylvania State University









   The scientific approach to any subject is to check the evidence. For climatology this would include temperature observations, studies using then vs. now photographs of glaciers, laboratory measurements of the physical properties of carbon dioxide, etc.




Picture at: http://www.durangobill.com/GwdLiars/GwdHeartlandHatred.jpg
Original article at The Guardian.

   The picture above shows a billboard advertisement paid for by the Heartland Institute. The Heartland Institute has a long history of being a sponsor of, and a payment distributor for Global Warming Deniers. If we follow the Heartland Institute’s “logic”, should we condemn mathematics just because Kaczynski might believe 2 + 2 = 4? (Kaczynski has a legitimate PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski )

Alternately - as shown at link



   As for the claim that Kaczynski endorses global warming, the words/phrases “global warming”, “climate change”, “carbon”, “carbon dioxide” do not appear in Kaczynski’s 34,000-word manifesto. http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt

   The arguments presented by Global Warming Deniers are designed to appeal to human emotions – especially willful ignorance, fear, paranoia, hatred, etc. The description that the Heartland Institute uses for their billboard is:

    “most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.”



Picture at: http://www.durangobill.com/GwdLiars/GwdHeartlandMadmen.jpg


Suppose we ask the question:
Which people are more likely to be aware of the real world 1) or 2)?

1)  People who measure real world events
2)  People who are preoccupied with “murderers, tyrants, and madmen”



As to why the Heartland Institute would try a “madman billboard” campaign, the “Marble” episode in “The Caine Mutiny” comes to mind.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/lose-your-marbles.html
“Caine Mutiny - Capt. Queeg Loses It”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlV3oQ3pLA0



   It seems that Heartland’s Executive Editor/President Joseph Bast has a long standing hatred toward Al Gore and equates Gore with Kaczynski. Bast appears to think that there is little difference between criticism of his own (Bast’s) position vs. murders committed by a “madman”. Picture is from a 2006 Joseph Bast article.
http://heartland.org/policy-documents/july-2006-inconvenient-truth-about-al-gore

   Heartland’s billboard episode was a classic “poster child” for the Global Warming Denier movement as it illustrated the motivation of Global Warming Deniers. GWDs arrantly and pretentiously assert that their scientific ignorance is a virtue (science and education are the enemy), and the only thing that is relevant is politically/emotionally based hatred.

   For more information about the lies promoted by the Heartland Institute, please see:
“5 Lies from the Heartland Institute”
http://polluterwatch.org/blog/dear-greenpeace-5-lies-heartland-institute
or just run a Google search using:
“Heartland Institute” liars




The following is a quote from the American Meteorological Society.
http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F2008BAMS2370.1



   As for what scientists were really saying even as far back as 50 years ago, here are a few references.

   In 1969, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the respected academic and future U.S. Senator, warned the Nixon White House that rising carbon dioxide levels could increase the average temperature.
https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/releases/jul10/56.pdf


The following quotes are from the 1979 Charney Report
“Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment”


http://web.atmos.ucla.edu/~brianpm/download/charney_report.pdf


In 1980, Walter Cronkite ( "the most trusted man in America") broadcast a warning that increasing carbon dioxide would raise the earth's temperature.
YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU9s0XyEctI


On the evening of Tuesday, 8 December, 1981, the UK’s only commercial TV channel, ITV, broadcast an hour-long documentary called “Warming Warning”.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/warming-warning-1981-tv-documentary-warned-climate-change






   Global Warming Deniers are always looking for a legitimate scientist to support their denial claims. They have always used (and frequently misquote) MIT’s Richard Lindzen as their “Legitimate Scientist”. Professor Lindzen has always claimed that “clouds will save us”. (This may or may not prove to be the case, but most experts think that changes in cloud cover will be minimal.)

In any case here’s what Professor Lindzen has to say about the deniers – as per an interview printed in the New York Times.


   Even Patrick Michaels (one of the heroes of the Global Warming Denier cult) says that “Global Warming is real”. “People have something to do with it… get over it.” The quotes are from Patrick’s 2008 keynote presentation to a conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute.  (7:17 into the video at http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-denial-crock-week1998-revisited )




   Global Warming Deniers frequently misquote scientists to make it seem like the scientist involved is arguing against Human Caused Global Warming. One of these scientists is Judith Curry – chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Here is Judith Curry’s actual position.


http://curry.eas.gatech.edu/climate/pdf/atlanta_rev.pdf



   Roy Spencer is convinced that all the peer reviewed papers that provide evidence that the earth is warming are wrong and that their authors are “Global Warming Nazis”. On the other hand, Roy appears to have descended into religious senility. (See “The Evolution Crisis” http://theevolutioncrisis.org.uk/testimony2.php where he confirms that he is also an “Evolution Denier”. Spencer: “I finally became convinced that the theory of creation actually had a much better scientific basis than the theory of evolution.”)

As for Roy’s wrong positions in regard to global warming, please see:

“Bad Week for Roy “Wrong-Way” Spencer”
http://climatecrocks.com/2011/09/07/bad-week-for-roy-wrong-way-spencer/
“Roy Spencer is MOST famous for being wrong”

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roy_Spencer
“[This] paper is not really intended for other scientists, since they do not take Roy Spencer seriously anymore (he’s been wrong too many times).”

http://www.desmogblog.com/roy-spencer
Spencer: “Carbon dioxide is a relatively small part of the Earth's natural greenhouse effect”

“Dr” Roy Spencer is sad and lonely and wrong
http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2011/03/05/dr-roy-spencer-is-sad-and-lone/

Roy Spencer's Catholic Online Climate Myths
http://www.skepticalscience.com/roy-spencer-catholic-online-interview.html





From Roy Spencer's web page at: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2019/01/chuck-todd-devotes-an-hour-to-attacking-a-strawman/

Roy Spencer: "I cannot think of a single credentialed, published skeptical climate scientist who doesn’t believe in the “existence” of climate change, or that “the Earth is getting hotter”, or even that human activity is likely a “major cause”. Pat Michaels, Richard Lindzen, Judith Curry, John Christy, and myself (to name a few) all believe these things."

    There is a reason why Global Warming Deniers (and other anti-science groups) will continue to deny reality. Global Warming Deniers live in an “alternate world” where conspiracy theories and their own paranoia control their thought processes. Global Warming Deniers truly believe that science and scientists are the enemy, and that these scientists are part of a conspiracy that is out to get them.

   This “science and scientists are the enemy” anti-intellectual mindset by Global Warming Deniers MUST!!!  be understood if you are going to understand why GWDs behave the way they do. Global Warming Deniers will continue to deny, because their denial is product of anti-intellectual “us vs. them” political tribalism.



“Anti-intellectualism is hostility towards and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectual pursuits, usually expressed as the derision of education, philosophy, literature, art, and science, as impractical and contemptible.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism

Also, please see:
“Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America - Social dysfunction can be traced to the abandonment of reason”
“America is killing itself through its embrace and exaltation of ignorance, and the evidence is all around us.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201506/anti-intellectualism-is-killing-america



  The following three examples demonstrate this “scientists are the enemy” paranoia.

1) The movie (pseudo-documentary) “The Great Global Warming Swindle” was produced by Martin Durkin. There are thousands of links on the Internet that will attest that Martin Durkin said:
“Legitimate scientists - people with qualifications - are the bad guys.”
(Run a Google search using the above quote.)
(Original source may have been: link )

2) The second example is “courtesy” of: “Rush Limbaugh, chairman of the modern day anti-science Know Nothing party”. According to Rush (as shown earlier) we have: “The Universe of Lies . . . The Four Corners of Deceit: Government, academia, science, and media. Those institutions are now corrupt and exist by virtue of deceit.”

3)  In his efforts to promote creationism instead of science, Don McLeroy (former chairman of the Texas State Board of Education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_McLeroy ) said:
"Someone has to stand up to experts!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzrUt9CHtpY

   Thanks to Hollywood and political tribalism, Global Warming Deniers (and other scientifically ignorant groups) are convinced that the purpose of science is limited to creating Frankenstein monsters, and/or inventing death rays, and/or fabricating “weapons of mass destruction”, and/or collecting government subsidies, and/or manipulating temperature data to support a predetermined conclusion. Thus, instead of looking to science for answers, these people would rather “trust” psychics, UFO sightings, homeopathic medicine (i. e. witch doctors), “reality TV”, newspaper tabloids, myths spread via the Internet/emails, etc. as their “sources for information”.

   Human beings are social animals. We tend to identify ourselves with particular social groups. Global Warming Deniers belong to anti-science social groups. Their sense of belonging in their groups requires that they conform to the beliefs of their social group. Membership in their own group requires that they continue a willful ignorance of anything that might cause them to be expelled from their group.


   The origin for this disdain for science and scientists goes back at least 2,600 years to Aesop’s Fables, and in particular the story of “The Fox and the Grapes”.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes

   In the “Fox and Grapes” story, a fox tries to get some grapes that are hanging high on a vine. However, no matter how hard the fox tries, he is unable to obtain the grapes. The fox then slinks away, muttering about “Sour Grapes”. This leads to “The moral to the story is "It is easy to despise what you cannot get."”  (Quote is from the Wikipedia link.)

   Science and scientists are held in high respect by most people. Global Warming Deniers are envious of this respect, and frequently try to disguise their misguided opinions to look like science or distort real science to try to support their misguided opinions. However, these opinions don’t have scientific merit. They don’t get published in scientific journals.
link

   No matter how hard they try, Global Warming Deniers are unable to obtain the scientific respect that they want. GWDs then take the “Sour Grapes” attitude where “It is easy to despise what you cannot get.”


   Another factor involved in Global Warming Deniers’ disdain toward science is that scientists (including doctors, chemists for pharmaceutical companies, etc.) usually have pretty good incomes. The “Sour Grapes” attitude of “It is easy to despise what you cannot get.” kicks in again with GWDs claiming that the purpose of scientists is to get government subsidies.


   For these reasons, the vast majority of anti-science GWDs will never acknowledge that science represents reality. In practice, this anti-science attitude produces the “closed mind” attribute that we observe in GWDs.


   It would be interesting if someone would run a poll/survey to see if there is a correlation between Global Warming Deniers and people who throw money away buying lottery tickets and/or gambling in casinos. The hypothesis is that people who think they can beat mathematical gambling odds significantly overlaps those who think their own opinion outweighs scientific observations and research.









Cartoon originally at http://blog.chron.com/nickanderson/2012/10/space-cadets/

   Global Warming Deniers live in an “alternate world” where “reality” consists of their “make-believe” fantasies while real observations are dismissed as fabrications of the conspirators. A blogging column by Alan Caruba that was posted in the online “Canada Free Press” on Oct. 10, 2012 is a typical example. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/50178

 The title of the article was:


   This was followed by the usual paranoid GWD rant that the United States Geological Survey was wasting taxpayer money by studying acidification of the Arctic Ocean. (USGS article at http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3363&from=rss_home )

I added a comment that referred readers to:

Alan’s reply was:


   Alan Caruba apparently does not know that the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are two of the top oceanographic educational research institutions in the world. Alan apparently doesn’t care that he doesn’t know. Alan apparently has no interest in learning about educational institutions. The only thing that matters to Alan is that any fact/observation/research study that disagrees with the political tribalism of the GWDs must be contributing to “corrupting the science”. His disdain for educational institutions is typical of Global Warming Deniers. (Alan Caruba doesn’t post his educational background (scientific or other) in his online bio.)

   It would appear that according to Alan (and other GWDs), that an organization is part of “the conspiracy” if it doesn’t agree with the fantasy world of the GWDs. According to the GWDs, the only “facts” that exist are the fabricated delusions of the GWDs.

   And finally, in Nov. 2005, in an article titled “It's Getting Colder, Not Warmer”, Alan Caruba said “we are due another ice age any day now.” http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/caruba111005.htm
2005 turned out to be to be the warmest year in recorded history. . .
Until that record was broken in 2010, http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/
With a record low Arctic ice pack in 2007. . .
Followed by a new record low in 2012
Etc.
Let’s see. . . How many days are in “due another ice age any day now”?

Also please see: http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2006Q/alcaruba.html
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alan_Caruba
“FACTSHEET: Alan Caruba” http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/personfactsheet.php?id=1042






   The word “evidence” appears to have a different meaning for Global Warming Deniers as opposed to scientists. To scientists, the word “evidence” is observations and documentation about events in the real world. Scientists measure these real world events and use these measurements so that they can forecast/predict what will happen if a similar real world event should occur again (or continue to occur) in the future.

   Most Global Warming Deniers do not have an educational background in any of the sciences never-mind a degree in Meteorology or Climatology. Many don’t have a college degree in anything. (Rush Limbaugh, Anthony Watts, etc.)

   Global Warming Deniers live in an “Alternate Reality” where the word “evidence” is what some other Global Warming Denier says. In this Alternate Reality, the only things that are “true” are the stories that are told by other Global Warming Deniers. To Global Warming Deniers, anything that might happen outside their Alternate Reality must be false since it conflicts with their Alternate Reality.

Global Warming Evidence includes:

   However, actual evidence of what is happening in the real world means nothing to Global Warming Deniers. Global Warming Deniers live in an Alternate Reality where the only “truth” is the dogma that is constantly repeated by other Global Warming Deniers.

   Global Warmin Deniers will invent/fabricate any excuse possible so they can continue to follow their political dogma. This is why Global Warming Deniers will claim:

   The bottom line is that Global Warming Deniers are not mentally capable of understanding anything that conflicts with their Alternate Reality. (See the Wikipedia articles  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance for in-depth explanations.)





   As part of their “obsession to deny”, Global Warming Deniers frequently have an “obsession to bore everyone to death with their ideology”. If you are a Global Warming Denier and are suffering from one/both of these “obsessions”, then before you act in haste, you might want to learn the Miranda Rights for Global Warming Deniers.

1) You have the right to remain silent.

 If you state that you are a Global Warming Denier, most people will think that you are an arrogant idiot. However, if you insist on broadcasting your fairy tales to the world, you will prove the matter beyond all doubt.

 2) Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law.

 If you say something really stupid (Global Warming Deniers are prone to “stupid statements”.), someone will use your statement as continuing evidence that you and other Global Warming Deniers are arrogant idiots.

 3) You have the right to have an attorney present now and during any future questioning.
 
Lawyers and scientists understand the word “evidence”. Global Warming Deniers don’t. You have a right to have someone present who can explain to you exactly what the word “evidence” means.

 4) If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you free of charge if you wish.

Better yet, try the Internet. There are large numbers of other Global Warming Deniers that will give you free “advice”. The free “advice” will be worth exactly what you pay for it.





A quick look at what has happened to glaciers tells the story.



The original photographs and story can be seen at: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF17/1731.html

   The (historic) Muir Glacier is an extreme example, but there are many other examples. (If you have Google Earth on your computer, go to 59.012N, 136.163W and look slightly west of due north to generate a view similar to the views above.)



The picture pair above is courtesy of http://www.gletscherarchiv.de/en/fotovergleiche/gletscher_liste

Do you recognize the impressive mountain in the background? Hint: It’s near Zermatt. Switzerland.

   The left picture is a copy of an old post card. The Furgg Glacier can be seen snaking around the front of the tall pyramidal mountain. Also, part of the glacier covers the lower slopes of the tall mountain.

   By 2003 there isn’t much left of the glacier. The very dark area below and slightly to the right of the mountain is the shadow from a 500-foot high cliff below a ridge. One hundred years ago, the glacier was thick enough to completely cover the ridge. If you have Google Earth on your computer, you can see trimlines and moraines that mark the former extent of the glacier. To find the area formerly covered by the Furgg Glacier, just look about 4 miles southwest of Zermatt Switzerland - or alternately, about 2 miles ENE of (and a “tad” down from) the summit of the Matterhorn.




   The above 4-photo sequence shows what has happened to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park since 1938. Grinnell Glacier is in the lower part of the photos, and Upper Grinnell Lake has formed in the basin formerly occupied by the glacier. The long snow/icefield above Grinnell Glacier is the small Salamander Glacier. The last photo was taken earlier in the summer season than the other photos, and thus Salamander Glacier still has more seasonal now than in the other photos. (Note the lack of shadows in the last photo indicating the high sun angle that only exists in late spring / early summer.)

   The photos were taken from the top of Mount Gould. Mount Gould is a strenuous climb but can be easily accessed from the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park. A larger set of the above images can be seen at: http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/files/norock/repeatphoto/Pairs/Grinnell/Quad_MtGould/Grinnell_Quad.pdf



   One of the more remote areas of the world that has (or at least used to have) glaciers are the high 15,000 foot mountains on the island of New Guinea.


Oblique aerial photograph looking east at several of the glaciers on Puncak Jaya in 1936. Left to right: Northwall Firn, Meren Glacier, and Carstensz Glacier. Photograph no. S.136 by J.J. Dozy.

The original of the above photograph can be seen at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1386h/indonesia/infig3.html
A more detailed description at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1386h/indonesia/indonesia.html includes an interim 1972 photograph.




   The Google Earth view above shows the same area - as of 2010. Most of the glaciers are gone. The rocks are dark gray as erosion from the former glaciers removed all the loose soil, and vegetation has not had enough time to become established on the bare rock.

Of note: A small portion of Freeport-McMoRan’s open pit Grasberg mine can be seen in the lower right corner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasberg_mine




   The picture above shows then and now photographs of the Upsala Glacier in Argentina. The top photograph was taken in 1928. The bottom photograph was taken in 2004. The top of the bare rock hill on the far side of the lake is nearly 700 feet above the lake level. Of interest, note the light colored trimline on the distant mountains that shows the former thickness of the glacier.

   The Upsala Glacier is one of the larger glaciers that flow out of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field - which straddles the Chile/Argentina border. Of interest, melt water that initially drains eastward off the northern end of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field eventually cuts back through the Andes Mountain Range to end up in the Pacific Ocean. (See the Rio Pascua section at http://www.durangobill.com/AncestralRivers/AncestralRiversSAm.html )



   The World Glacier Monitoring Service has a web page where they post a graph of what is happening to the world’s glaciers. Here’s what it looks like.


Source:
Switzerland’s World Glacier Monitoring Service
https://wgms.ch/global-glacier-state/

Not only are the world’s glaciers shrinking, the shrinkage rate has accelerated in recent years.






   As the earth started to warm in the 20th century, sea level started to rise due to thermal expansion and melting glaciers. In the last couple of decades this rate of rise has increased to about 3 mm/yr. (3 meters per 1,000 years)

Here’s what radar altimetry from satellites shows.


   Sea level is not only continuing to rise, the rate of rise has accelerated beyond what had been observed before 1990. The most recent data at http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_timeseries_global.php indicates this rate of sea level rise is continuing to accelerate beyond what was observed up through 2011.

   Current carbon dioxide levels are far above what was seen in the Eemian Interglacial 125,000 years ago.


Graph from CO₂ Movie https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html


   It will take several centuries for glacial melting and sea level rise to catch up with the current rate of thermal forcing. It seems probable that sea level will eventually rise to levels higher than what was seen in the Eemian Interglacial when sea level was some 16 to 23 feet higher than it is today.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eemian_sea  If sea level rises this much (or more) many coastal cities such as New Orleans and Miami will be completely submerged.



  The chart above was posted at http://www.johnenglander.net/t-co2-sl-420kyr-chart . The original source was Fig. 3 at http://www.columbia.edu/~mhs119/Storms/  The chart shows the historical relationship between carbon dioxide levels, temperature, and sea level.

   In the Eemian interglacial of 125,000 years ago, sea level was 20 feet or more above current levels. This is enough to turn Miami and New Orleans into fish food.


   Now take a close look at the green line at the right edge. Where is our future temperature going? Where is our future sea level going? The process will be spread over centuries, but how do you move all of the world’s big seaport cities?



   The Google Earth view above shows a two-mile wide series of sandy shorelines in Australia that were formed when sea level was higher during the Eemian. Image that a large city were built today in this two-mile wide area. Then image what would happen if sea level were restored to Eemian levels (or higher).


   From “Relationship between sea level and climate forcing by CO2 on geological timescales” (published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America )
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/01/03/1216073110



As for what is happening now, please see the following video.
Miami Beach Sea Level Rise, Paradise Lost!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4UueAile5A







   Global Warming / Climate Change is shifting plant hardiness zones northward. The maps above and below are Print Screen images from an animation by the Arbor Day Foundation. http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm


   Hardiness zones provide a guide as to which plants and trees will grow in a given area. The maps show that plants that grew best in northern Alabama (Zone 7) in 1990 can now be grown across all of Tennessee and most of Kentucky. In the northern plains, the blue Zone 4 has moved north to include most of North Dakota.

   In the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming, the blue Zone 4 is rapidly being replaced by the milder Zone 5. Cold winters used to keep Bark Beetles under control, but milder winters are allowing increasing infestations by these insects. In Mesa Verde National Park, the “Mesa” is still there but most of the “Verde” is gone. Fires and beetle attacks over the last 20 years have wiped out most of the trees; and grasslands have replaced the forests.




   Historically (As measured in geologic/astronomical time), greenhouse gases (Carbon dioxide, water vapor, etc.) have kept temperatures on earth at levels that are compatible for living organisms. Without these gases, the average temperature on planet earth would be near zero F. At the other extreme, an excessive level of greenhouse gases would turn earth into an unlivable inferno.

   Greenhouse gases absorb and then retransmit long wavelength heat energy. Molecules with 3 or more atoms are able to absorb long wavelength heat radiation and briefly convert this radiant energy into kinetic vibration energy. Then a greenhouse molecule retransmits another photon of heat energy which stabilizes the molecular vibration. However, this retransmitted heat radiation is in a random direction. Half the time this retransmission is back down toward the earth’s surface. The result slows planet earth’s ability to radiate heat out into space.

  The following 3 pictures are PrintScreen images from an animated video at  http://scied.ucar.edu/carbon-dioxide-absorbs-and-re-emits-infrared-radiation
The accompanying explanation at the link gives the details of the process.











The following organizations provide evidence that:
1) Global Warming / Climate Change is real.
2) Human activities are by far the largest causative agent.
3) Global Warming / Climate Change is a continuing, ongoing phenomenon.

NASA
“Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.”
http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A2.lrg.gif  (The graph)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Climatic Data Center
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
http://www.wmo.ch/pages/about/wmo50/e/world/climate_pages/global_warming_e.html

American Meteorological Society
“It is clear from extensive scientific evidence that the dominant cause of the rapid change in climate of the past half century is human-induced increases in the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2)”
http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2012climatechange.html

The Weather Channel Position Statement on Global Warming
“These observations, together with computer model simulations and historical climate reconstructions from ice cores, ocean sediments and tree rings all provide strong evidence that the majority of the warming over the past century is a result of human activities.”
http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/global/

National Center for Atmospheric Research
“How do we know Earth is warming now?”
http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/research/climate/now.php

Earth System Research Laboratory - Global Monitoring Division
“Climate Forcing”
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/about/climate.html

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
http://www.ucar.edu/research/climate/warming.jsp

Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology
“Global Climate Change” “How do we know?”
http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/evidence/

American Geophysical Union (world's largest scientific society of Earth and space scientists)
“Human Impacts on Climate”
http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/climate_change_position.html

American Association for the Advancement of Science
“The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now”
http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/aaas_climate_statement.pdf
http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/

U. S. National Academy of Sciences
“Climate change is real”
http://www.nationalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf

National Science Foundation
“Global Warming Greatest in Past Decade”
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112206

U. S. Geological  Survey
“Glacier and Landscape Change in Response to Changing Climate”
http://www.usgs.gov/global_change/glaciers/default.asp
Time lapse video: “Glacier Erasure: South Cascade Glacier in a Changing Climate”
http://wa.water.usgs.gov/projects/glacier/video.html

Geological Society of America
“The Geological Society of America (GSA) concurs . . . that global climate has warmed and that human activities (mainly greenhouse gas emissions) account for most of the warming since the middle 1900s.”
http://www.geosociety.org/positions/position10.htm

National Snow and Ice Data Center - Global Glacier Recession
“We live in a time of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations with an attendant warming of the climate.”
http://nsidc.org/glims/glaciermelt/

United Nations Environment Programme/World Glacier Monitoring Service
“Global Glacier Changes: facts and figures”
“There is mounting evidence that climate change is triggering a shrinking and thinning of many glaciers world-wide”
http://www.grid.unep.ch/glaciers/  (Introduction and links to a 26 MB WGMS report)

The United States Energy Information Administration
“Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change, and Energy”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/greenhouse/Chapter1.htm

U. S. Department of Defense
“As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating.” “These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions – conditions that can enable
terrorist activity and other forms of violence.”
http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2014_Quadrennial_Defense_Review.pdf   (Page 8)
Also:
“Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict.”
http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=16976


Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Report: Human activity fuels global warming”
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/climate.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory | California Institute of Technology
Climate change: How do we know?
"The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia."
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Stanford University
“A large body of scientific information indicates that global climate change is unequivocal, almost certainly is caused mostly by human activities, is already causing significant harm, and as it continues, holds great risks for our future.”
https://pangea.stanford.edu/programs/outreach/climatechange/

California Institute of Technology
Climate Change Science
“Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise.”
http://web.gps.caltech.edu/classes/ese148a/NASclimatechange.pdf

Columbia University
“The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming”
“With higher CO2 concentrations come expectations of a stronger greenhouse effect and therefore warmer global temperatures.”
http://www.columbia.edu/~vjd1/greenhouse.htm

Atmospheric Sciences - University of Illinois - Champaign
“Evidence continues to mount that human activities are altering the Earth’s climate on a global scale.”
http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/research/01climate.html

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
http://www.whoi.edu/main/topic/global-warming

Scripps Institution of Oceanography (University of California - San Diego)
http://scripps.ucsd.edu/img/climate_flyer.pdf

The UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre
“Climate change - the big picture”
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/myths/index.html
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/guide/

The UK’s Royal Society
“Climate change controversies: a simple guide”
http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=6229

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Based in Switzerland)
“Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report”
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf

Japan Meteorological Agency
“Global Warming Projection Vol.7”
http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/gwp7/index-e.html

The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
“Our climate has changed substantially.” “Global climate change and global warming are real and observable.”
http://www.amos.org.au/publications/cid/3/t/publications

Royal Society of New Zealand
“The globe is warming because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/Site/news/media_releases/2008/clim0708.aspx

National Geographic Magazine
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/

Scientific American Magazine
http://www.sciam.com/topic.cfm?id=global-warming-and-climate-change

Wikipedia
“Scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth's climate system is unequivocally warming and it is more than 90% certain that humans are causing it through activities that increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change (100+ references with links)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas


Also please see “The Great Global Warming Swindle” is itself a Fraud and a Swindle
http://www.durangobill.com/Swindle_Swindle.html


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