I am actually a global warming sceptic. I question the climate models. I question the data. And I question the nature of the scientific consensus and how it has come about. I am not an uneducated, poor, rube who is anti-science and I am a conservative.

I do recycle, only drive once a week, make my house as energy efficient as possible, turn down the heat to 65F, bring my own reusable bags to the grocery store, buy local organic foods directly from farmers, buy in bulk to reduce waste, have changed all my light bulbs, try to reduce my water usage, and I even limit my plane trips to 1 or 2 a year maximum.

I'm not "hedging" my bets, but it is my conservative values that guide my behaviour. I just believe that it is important to be responsible with any resources that we have and there is no need to be wasteful. I have the monetary resources to buy more and can absorb a higher gas price without any ill effect on my lifestyle. However, I try to limit my consumption in all respects, bec. of my conservative values.

I live with liberals who believe in global warming. They do not recycle, even the simplest things. They drive every day to work even though it is only 3 blocks away. They throw away plastic bags in the garbage. They insist that the heat be turned up to 72 F in the winter, bec. they don't want to put on a sweater or socks. They open the windows even when the AC is on. They leave the lights on in their rooms when they go away for the weekend. And one of them actually forgets to turn off the water tap well after they have left the bathroom. They are frequent fliers, making at least one plane trip a month for social reasons. They drive to the airport, while I take a shuttle. They are not environmentally aware in any way. And they are hard core liberal Democrats who have been educated at elite American universities.

And what is my point? The idea that liberals live one way and conservatives another, is far too simplistic. This country is far too polarized and articles such as this one only further the polarization and divisiveness.

The other day my liberal housemate(who drives every day) said that he thinks that the gas prices should go higher, bec. that's the only way dumb Americans will learn. The hypocrisy was stunning.

Environ-mental: "I don't believe climate on this planet has ever been static, and it's always warming or cooling - often in wild vacillations."

To the best we can ascertain the earth has never warmed as quickly as it has in the past century.

Picture Worth 1000 Words Dept.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1000_Year_Temperature_Comparison.png

Environ-mental: "If we were able to show the movie on a standard projector, each 100 years would flash by in 1/32 of a second."

Ya, and in that scenario most of WWII - from the invasion of Poland to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - would take roughly 1/640 of a second.

And your point here is what, exactly?

Stet,

You claim to have the capability to control the weather and I’m the one that should be wearing a tin hat?

Have you seen any burning bushes lately? What will you do for your next trick, blot out the Sun? Are there any other mysteries of the Universe you’d like to impart to us? Changed water into wine recently have you? Talk about a God complex……

Write this note and hang it on your bathroom mirror………

I don’t need your help today.

-God

Just john wrote: “I tend to believe that humans are the primary cause of global warming, but I suspect that humans will NOT solve it.”

You're probably wrong on part 1 but certainly right on part 2.

Charles Krauthammer got it backwards? Charles Krauthammer! No, I disagree! Charles Krauthammer didn't get it backwards; Charles Krauthammer just didn't get it!

The current crop of so-called conservatives don't WANT to get it. They might have to DO something! Better we should drill, drill, DRILL! I live in Florida. If any state in the Union is in danger, it's Florida. We have a Senator, Mel Martinez, whose sole ambition is to curry favor with the Bush family. If George says, "Mel! Fetch!" Mel fetches! He'll fetch the destruction of our planet, if George says so. And since George knows it's the End Times, George says so.

There are lunatics at large in our government! They KNOW the truth, but they live in a state of denial! "We didn't cause global warming! We can't stop it. So, why try?" So let's all die for George Bush's whacky religion. No! I shouldn't say that--over 4000 Americans have already died for George Bush's whacky religion--the Great God Oil!

Falhaar wrote: “The weather for this year was extremely unusual and there has been a massive decrease in old core ice as well as the thickness of the ice. Much of the arctic is now less than one year old!. As you'd no doubt know, the surface of the water is much easier to freeze than the deep and it is the loss of the deep core ice which is a forewarning of some serious shit in the future.”

Yep. “The weather for this year was extremely unusual.”

Arctic sea ice extent for May 2008 was 13.18 million square kilometers, reaching the same level as in May 1989.

This is 2.5% below the baseline level (1979-2000 mean May level of 13.6 million square kilometers), around 3% above the May 2007 extent and around 4.5% above the record May low reached in May 2004.

The linear average rate of decline is 3.0%/decade (over the 30-year period since measurements have started). If the decline continues at this rate, it will take 330 years for the entire Arctic sea ice to disappear.

The most recent decline has however not continued at the 3.0%/decade rate, since the May 2008 extent is back to the May 1989 extent (i.e. zero net decline in 19 years).

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/n_plot_hires.png

A February report shows that it has not only expanded its extent by 2 million square km over the average of the past 3 years, it has also gained in thickness, by about 10-20 cm over last year. That’s a major increase in total volume.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/02/15/arctic-ice.html

Less than one year old? Yep. That’s what they call “seasons” (like winter, spring, summer, etc.). Happens all the time.

“Forewarning of some serious s… in the future?”

This sounds like some “serious bulls… for the future” to me.