Mr. Barton, global warming is a claim about the AVERAGE temperature of the globe. Though the average temperature is rising, that doesn't mean it's rising everywhere simultaneously. And since we're talking about climate, not weather, what matters is not each year's average but the average of several decades. The averages for 1880-1890, 1890-1900, 1900-1910..., 2000-2010 are more relevant than the average temperature for, say, 2008 or 2009.
Even if a section of the United States is experiencing average or below average temperatures during a certain period of time, say a week or a month, it doesn't mean that the rest of the planet is, too, or that all the other months also will have average or below average temperatures in that section of the country.
Finally, as for the global cooling "scare" of the 1970's, journalists like you took the speculation of a handful of scientists and built a fanciful story out of it. There was nothing approaching a consensus of scientists, as there is with global warming.
If you're going to express your point of view on a topic, you should try to be better informed. I'm willing to bet that you never even bothered to read the IPCC 2007 report. All 2000_+ pages of it? Any of it?
Anonymous User October 30, 2009
at 9:47pm
Mr. Barton, global warming is a claim about the AVERAGE temperature of the globe. Though the average temperature is rising, that doesn't mean it's rising everywhere simultaneously. And since we're talking about climate, not weather, what matters is not each year's average but the average of several decades. The averages for 1880-1890, 1890-1900, 1900-1910..., 2000-2010 are more relevant than the average temperature for, say, 2008 or 2009.
Even if a section of the United States is experiencing average or below average temperatures during a certain period of time, say a week or a month, it doesn't mean that the rest of the planet is, too, or that all the other months also will have average or below average temperatures in that section of the country.
Finally, as for the global cooling "scare" of the 1970's, journalists like you took the speculation of a handful of scientists and built a fanciful story out of it. There was nothing approaching a consensus of scientists, as there is with global warming.
If you're going to express your point of view on a topic, you should try to be better informed. I'm willing to bet that you never even bothered to read the IPCC 2007 report. All 2000_+ pages of it? Any of it?