Happy Earth Day! ... with a dose of eco-reality

Happy Earth Day! It's like Christmas for eco-radicals! Thing is, like the commercialized December holiday and the followers of the faith, true Earth Day purists - and those of us regular folk, myself included, who take pride in doing things necessary to protect and appreciate the world we're blessed to live in - shouldn't need a special day to observe that which we should consider every day we are afforded breath. Christians shouldn't need one day to recognize their Saviour, and so on. If a people believe strongly in anything, it should be reflected each day, in their every action and (to a much lesser extent, mind you) not just in words. You get the point.

With that, there's a lot I could say, or would like to say, on this day of celebration and awareness of our planet. It's a good day, if put in the proper perspective. After all, I love all the Earth Day goodies I get from the booths at work! But what I'll add below - from climatologist Patrick J. Michaels' bestseller Meltdown: The Culture of Disortion in the Science and Politics of Global Warming" - says plenty enough. While in no way becoming an expert on the topics, I've been doing research and have developed quite a keen interest in the so-called coming "eco-disasters" concerning "climate change" and "global warming" - quoted emphasis added with good reason. Enjoy - or find very disturbing - the commentary below from Michaels' expose on this heated topic:

Excerpt from Meltdown:
Experienced climatologist, researcher and author Patrick J. Michaels details hundreds of misstatements and exaggerations in scientific papers, news reports, and television sound bites -- from the "National Assessment" of global warming, a Clinton-era document that used computer models that its authors knew did not work, to the infamous New York Times story about the melting of the North Pole, published in September 2000 and halfheartedly retracted three weeks later.

Just a few of the myths about climate change that Michaels exposes, including:

• Distortion: Ice melting at the North Pole will cause ocean levels to rise. Reality: The ice at the North Pole is already floating in the ocean; therefore, when it melts it will have no effect on sea levels, just as the water in your glass does not rise when the ice cubes melt. (p. 202)

• Distortion: Global warming is causing the Great Lakes to dry up. Reality: Precipitation is increasing in the areas that drain into the Great Lakes, and there has been no change in temperature. The result is a net increase in wetness. Great Lake levels show absolutely no downward trend as planetary surface temperature rises. (pp. 156-9)

• Distortion: Tuvalu is being swallowed by the ocean because global warming is causing sea levels to rise. Reality: In the past 50 years, sea level around Tuvalu has actually fallen at a rate of approximately 2.5 millimeters per year, for a total drop of 105 millimeters. (pp. 204-5)

• Distortion: The number and severity of tornadoes are increasing because of global warming. Reality: The number of reported tornadoes is increasing, not because of global warming, but as the result of improvements in tornado detection technology. Global warming could actually reduce the severity of tornadoes by reducing the temperature contrast between the poles and the tropics. (pp. 117-20)

• Distortion: Global warming will increase drought frequency in the American Midwest. Reality: Net wetness is increasing, not decreasing, in this region. (p. 177)

• Distortion: The American Southeast will experience average heat indices of 120� F by the year 2100. Reality: Average heat indices this high are physically impossible to achieve in the Southeast because so much heat is used up in the process of evaporation in the Gulf of Mexico. (pp. 217-9)

• Distortion: Global warming is increasing heat-related mortality in our cities. Reality: American cities are, in fact, becoming warmer -- but it has much less to do with global warming than it does with the fact that bricks, concrete, and asphalt retain the heat of the day. (pp. 190-3)

• Distortion: Global warming will exacerbate the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria in poverty-stricken areas. Reality: There is no relationship between global warming and the spread of malaria in Africa. Malaria was endemic to the entire United States in the (cooler) 19th century and was eradicated with sanitation, not climate change. (p. 180)

• Distortion: Global warming will increase the rate of species extinction. Reality: There is no evidence for massive extinctions associated with human-induced warming, and global warming may actually foster biodiversity by raising temperatures and increasing rainfall. Extinction models that implicate global warming are inadequate because they indicate that even minor shifts in temperature would bring about widespread extinctions, but that is demonstrably not the case. (pp. 107-9)

Finally, an added comment on Meltdown:
"This powerful, lucid, fluent book is a triumph of science over superstition. Pat Michaels, a gifted climatologist, tells the straight truth about the hysteria and ignorance surrounding climate change and how the scientific establishment has been led astray. The author issues a fierce indictment of lazy and biased journalists and pandering and plain stupid politicians. His evisceration of the erroneous New York Times front-page story on the melting of the North Pole is brilliant and only one of many gems in this glittering work." -- JAMES K. GLASSMAN, American Enterprise Institute