"BTW, is there global warming? Greenhouse gases let less heat escape as IR radiation - heating the lower atmosphere. The final nail is in the coffin. Satellite data from IRIS (some 15 years ago) was compared to recent data from IMG. There is a decrease in the earth's IR transmission consistent with the predictions of global warming. Yes, the greenhouse gases are holding the heat in - according the the theory - and now according to experimental evidence."
Should we be convinced by data collected by very different instrument packages, with the 1970 data effected by the solar maximum and a weak La Nina, while the 1997 data was taken at the start of an El Nino event during a solar minimum? The idea of a static climate is ahistorical, Gaia has had a much colder and much hotter climate in the past. Could man be contributing to a general warming of the planet? Yes. If this is occuring is it staving off the next ice age? To me climate change theory is simply a useful tool for folks who would prefer a managed future and politicians who want to do the managing. It looks like the modern variant of the old timey "end o' the world is near" religion. Would it be so popular if the fear was still global cooling and our only hope was increased emissions? I could be totally off base on the whole thing but somebody needs to challenge assumptions. (I am now ducking below my keyboard as my wildly unpopular, poorly researched, and shakey argument is posted)
PS
My favorite hard left writer Alexander Cockburn puts in his tuppence here.
http://www.nypress.com/content.cfm?c...tent_section=1