I don't believe climate on this planet has ever been static, and it's always warming or cooling - often in wild vacillations. This is the way it's going to be until a large meteor hits us or we're enveloped by the sun in about 5 billion years.

Remember that Ma Earth is 4.5 billion years old!

One way to get a sense of geologic time is to compare it to a motion picture. A movie is projected at a rate of 32 frames per second - each image is flashed on the screen for only 1/32 of a second, giving the illusion of continuous motion. But suppose that each frame represented 100 years...

If we were able to show the movie on a standard projector, each 100 years would flash by in 1/32 of a second. It would take only 1/16 of a second to go back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The 2,000-year-old Christian era would be on screen for ¾ of a second. A section showing all time back to the last major ice age would only be less than seven seconds long... And to view a movie entitled "The Complete Story of Earth, from Its Birth to Modern Civilization" you would have to spend sixteen days in the theater, without even a popcorn break between reels.

Chill out, everyone.

Re: "Needless to say, if you don't believe humans are the cause of global warming, you're not going to believe that humans are the solution to global warming."

Huh?

Do you say "Needless to say" because even you know that that assertion makes no sense?

For instance, as something like a converse to that, I tend to believe that humans are the primary cause of global warming, but I suspect that humans will NOT solve it. (It may well "solve" us!)

In a broad understanding of the term "science," logic is also a science. And you don't seem to be on logic's side, here. Must you also be stopped?

Brute: "The Armed Forces have continency plans in the event the potato salad runs out at a summer barbecue. They have entire rooms full of people that sit around and write "contingency plans". They have entire manuals devoted to how to tie your shoes.....get real would you?"

Did you read the conclusion of that Pentagon report's exec summary, Brute?

This report suggests that, because of the potentially dire consequences, the risk of abrupt climate change, although uncertain and quite possibly small, should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern.

http://www.global2000.at/files/Pentagon_Studie.doc

Are you really trying to suggest that the Pentagon puts "potato salad runs out at a summer barbecue" on the same level as global warming a "U.S. national security concern"?

Yeah I can see that report now:

"This report suggests that, because of the potentially dire consequences, the risk of potato salad running out at our summer barbecue, although uncertain and quite possibly small, should be elevated beyond a water cooler debate to a U.S. national security concern.

Brute I just don't see that one, even if you do.

Brute: "get real would you?"

I love irony.

Stet,

You wrote:

Nobody, and certainly not Mr. R and Dr. H., are suggesting silencing or prosecuting anyone. All that's being said is, let the scientists talk about the science, and let the political debate proceed on the basis of what the science says.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/clim-j26.shtml

The funny thing is, I typed “Hansen, prosecute, denier” and this is the first reference that appeared……The World Socialist Web Site……How appropriate. The title of the article we are discussing is:

Anti-science conservatives must be stopped.

How does Mr. Romm intend on “stopping” Conservatives?

Oh, heavens!!!

Anti-science conservatives must be stopped.

How does Mr. Romm intend on “stopping” Conservatives?

Why not read what he wrote instead of composing fiction?

He's quite clear on the subject. He doesn't say arrest them, or prosecute them, or abridge their right to freely express themselves. He just says responsible elected officials have to make policy based on real science, not on hysterical lies, and that the reality of changing climate has to be addressed. Maybe some of those who hold elective office may lose bids for re-election. Oh, the horror!!

The bottom line is hysterical liars won't stop lying, and nobody's going to try to make them stop. Freedom of speech is not threatened. Inhofe's continued holding of seat in the Senate should be, by the voters.

That said - Brute, you should know that I have found for a fact that a group of eco-fanatics have been dispatched with orders to use a special mind-altering ray to imprint global warming information on your brain. It is very, very important that you keep your tinfoil hat pulled tightly down around your ears for the next few years.

the guys who did predict global cooling, at least the ones quoted in the famous 1974 Time magazine article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944914,00.html, Reid A. Bryson and Donald Oilman, are today both fairly widely quoted as NONbelievers in AGW.

kind of funny/ironic that the other AGW nonbelievers would bring them up as examples of mistaken climate scientists. but i guess logic isn't exactly a strong suit of the AGW nonbeliever. it explains the bizarre traits which they project on the folks who do believe in AGW, particularly the scientists.

well, it's day one, time zero for my study of global warming on a local scale: 4:00 PM July 1, 2008

Time is now 1 hour (5 pm). i believe i am beginning to see a definite cooling trend. if this continues, it will put the nail in the coffin of this AGW nonsense.

Hour 2: temperatures continue to drop, at an accelerating rate. conclusive proof that global warming, if it ever existed, is over.

Hour 3: even laypersons without access to my sophisticated thermometric equipment have begun to note that it has cooled off. popular support for the big lie is fading.

Hour 5: due to sustained rapid drop, i am taking time points more spread apart now. the trend is so clear, i don't see how the AGW folks can deny it.

Hour 7: Time for bed. At this point the local global temperature has dropped so low that I need a light blanket. This would certainly not have been true, a mere 12 hours ago!

Hour 12: I awake and check my thermometric instruments with excitement. Yes! It is even cooler than it was at hour 7!!

Hour 15: A possibly worrisome datapoint. The global temperature locally has begun to rise again, slightly. an end to global cooling? evidence that the climate goes through natural cycles without human influence?

hour 18: the local global temperature continues to rise rapidly. i have no doubt AGW cultists will attribute this to continued AGW, without mention of the profound cooling trend I have recorded, but this time I will have data to counter them!

hour 24: the global temperature is now as high as it was at time zero.

still, that is evidence that the temperature has leveled off, not evidence of warming. and if the carbon dioxide has continued to increase during the experiment, which I am sure it has, then the obvious cooling and warming unrelated to any change in carbon dioxide proves there is no connection. I shall soon repeat this experiment with measurements of carbon dioxide, if Time Magazine sends me a carbon dioxide measurement instrument to go with this thermometer they sent me when I subscribed.

now, to publish! i know that it won't be easy to fight the vast wealth and power of the climatology cartel, who will stop at nothing to ensure that my findings are not reported, but luckily i have found other brave souls on the internet who will not cooperate in stifling the truth, and provide a forum for real experimental research such as mine, in preference to those "models" beloved of Al Gore and his ilk.