Bill McKibben thinks Al Gore has been ‘diminished’ by skeptics:
We actually had a charismatic leader in Al Gore, but he was almost the exception that proved the rule.
For one thing, a politician makes a problematic leader for a grassroots movement because boldness is hard when you still envision higher office; for another, even as he won the Nobel Prize for his remarkable work in spreading climate science, the other side used every trick and every dollar at their disposal to bring him down. He remains a vital figure in the rest of the world (partly because there he is perceived less as a politician than as a prophet), but at home his power to shape the fight has been diminished.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/movements-without-leaders_b_3777136.html
===========================================================
Speaking of Gore’s “diminished role”, this is what he’s up to now*
Duke C. says:
Al Gore at Work: $8.7 Billion to ‘Repair Sound Barrier’?
The EPA has already begun discussions with environmentalist thought leader Al Gore about developing a series of Public Service Announcements to inform the public and to caution them about the damaging effects of supersonic speeds. When reached by phone, the former Vice President and filmmaker shared his newfound expertise on the topic, “Most of the smaller residual sonic disturbances seem to be concentrated in some of the least populated areas, like ranches and rodeo arenas.” He further quipped that, “This truth is looking pretty inconvenient as well.”
*Spoof article
==============================================================
Mike Bromley the Kurd says:
Oh Noes Department: European Forests aren’t the carbon sink they once were……
http://phys.org/news/2013-08-europe-forests-carbon-saturation.html
===========================================================
Stresiand effect in 3, 2, 1…
Mr Bliss says: A potentially very damaging story regarding UK wind farms:
“Sources have said that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) run by Ed Davey, a Liberal Democrat wants to stop Owen Paterson, the Conservative Environment Secretary, publishing a major report that he has commissioned on renewable energy and the rural economy. ”
=============================================================
It took them this long to figure this out?
NASA scientists relate urban population to air pollution
Live in a large city like New York, London, Beijing or Mumbai, and you are likely exposed to more air pollution than people in smaller cities in surrounding areas. But exactly how a city’s pollution relates to the size of its population has never been measured, until now.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-scientists-relate-urban-population-to-air-pollution/#.UhKAMT92EhV
==============================================================
Fearmongering from National Geographic, which is why I don’t subscribe anymore.
Steve Wilent says:
Have you seen the cover of the September 2013 National Geographic Magazine? Cover story: Rising Seas. Image: The statue of Liberty with water up to about Liberty’s waist — more than 200 feet above sea level.
http://press.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/15/national-geographic-magazine-september-2013/
I wonder if they tell readers how long that will take to get to that level, like I did here:
Freaking out about NYC sea level rise is easy to do when you don't pay attention to history
==============================================================
UHI and social justice?
ut8t5 says:
Reducing Urban Heat Island effect in Toronto a matter of social justice, “experts” say
Toronto Public Health claims that the urban heat effect makes poorer neighbourhoods even hotter than wealthier neighbourhoods.
“The Urban Heat Island problem “doesn’t affect everyone equally… In Toronto, there is “almost a perfect overlay between poor areas and hot areas,” says Kevin Behan, deputy director of the Clean Air Partnership, an environmental group.”
“Modern scientists have confirmed that the average temperature difference between an urban heat island and its rural belt is usually 1 C to 2 C but can reach as much as 12 C in extreme cases.”
Chicken Little is very worried about this and want to spend our money RIGHT NOW.
“Mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect — which can be as easy as switching roof colours — is a matter of social justice, many experts say. And as climate change continues to amplify weather extremes, that task is increasingly urgent.”
LOL
=====================================================================
Heatwaves Projected to Double by 2020
New Computer Models Project Rapid Increase in Heatwaves
John Marincic writes:
Heatwaves are projected to double by 2020 based on new computer models and reviewing an “exceptional number of extreme heatwaves” over the last decade. The scientists from Germany and Spain use the latest heatwaves in Australia, US, and Russia as examples of what will become more prevalent over the coming decade.
The study is in the Journal of Environmental Research Letters. There is a link to the study in the article (see URL) published by Reuters.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/2013/08/16/21052391.html
Oh and this Adrienne Alvord…
http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-arrived-california-op-ed-160328005.html
http://oehha.ca.gov/multimedia/epic/2013EnvIndicatorReport.html
Be afraid, be very afraid…
Re Ed Davey trying to squelch Owen Paterson’s evidently-too-honest wind farm report, Paterson should have a word with fellow Conservative Lord Lawson. I’m sure the GWPF would be happy enough to publish it, and a lot of us Brits would be most interested in reading it.
What’s the deal with mocking Toronto for studying where it should plant its trees to help as many of its citizens as possible?
Or does the poster just not believe there’s a heat island effect, which would explain the “chicken little” accusation.
Heatwaves projected to double by 2020:
“Almost 200 governments have agreed to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times and plan to agree, by the end of 2015, a deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.”
Finally, we know what the ideal earth temperature should be!
@Kaboom, 9:19
“I doubt the sceptic side has spent 1% of the money on bringing down Al Gore than he earned from his involvement with alarmism. Probably less than 1% of 1%.”
The actual number is $0.00398 as measured at Moanin’ Liar volcano in Hawaii.
Of course, this is still only raw data. Needs more work.
The Statue of Liberty will be completely corroded away before sea level reaches its pedestal!
And as far as Bill McKibben’s estimation of “charismatic leader” Al Gore–both Bill and Al are more than “diminished”, they are full-blown liars when it comes to climate. And if they blame skeptics for being “outed”, they’re finally recognizing the fact that truth is destroying their fiction.
I strongly recommend that they keep spewing their propaganda because more and more people are seeing through it. That’s one of the more transparent aspects of this whole Global Warming meme.
I still think it was cartoons that killed Al Gore’s chance to be a messiah. The roasting he got on the ManBearPig episode of South Park was burned into the brains of the very demographic he wanted to lead, making him a notable fool. His appearance on Futurama, which I think he thought would help him, backfired with his first sentence “I have ridden the mighty Moon-Worm!” He is now irrelevant.
Re. the National Geographic cover:
If you look more closely, you’ll see that the water is not up to the waist of the Statue of Liberty. It is only up to her watsis.
This is good. Every national monument needs a clean watsis.
I get a little tired every time I see a well known saying used when it doesn’t mean what (almost) everyone thinks it means. I refer to Bill McKribben when he says that Al Gore was almost the exception that proved the rule. In this matter I don’t blame McKribben. It is sloppy thinking on all our parts.
Why should the exception prove the rule?? if you think about it, it is nonsense. But yes, it is an old English saying and it does makes sense. It is just that we don’t understand it (and what is worse when it doesn’t make sense don’t bother to look further). PROVE is an Old English word meaning to TEST. Reading as…… “It is the exception that tests the rule”… does make sense.
Thomas Gough (A Scot !!)
Tom Trevor says: “46 years ago my grandmother gave me a lifetime subscription to National Geographic. It was a fairly good magazine back then that still had the occasional picture of naked breast natives….”
As Caleb has said, above: “Oh, how far the mighty have fallen!”
Did you know Al Gore does some very important work in comparative mythology?
Apparently he does not look with favor on monotheism but approves of returning to Gaia worship – and may also have given his academic and scholarly approval to the worship of other dishy Roman Goddesses as well. To quote from his book, “we” may be able “to resanctify the Earth” through religion. “Man belongs to the Earth.”
Could there be some kind of physiological explanation for this level of academic hubris? Are there potentially some neurological issues underlying this kind of progressive need to explain all religions, and to set the temperature and population of the Earth? Could there have been some frontal lobe damage during the years between 18-24, in which there has been excessive exposure to alcohol and Marxist professors? Future studies are needed.
Maybe the following provides a clue.
He owns a 10,000-square-foot mansion with 20 rooms. Not content he went on to purchase a $8.875 Million 6,500 sq. foot Montecito Villa with 6 fireplaces. He sold his Current TV to oil funded Al Jazeera. It is also well known that the family became rich from Occidental Petroleum. Al Gore has admitted to cultivating and selling tobacco and so on…………………….
@Russ
“Finally, we know what the ideal earth temperature should be!”
Do a search on what the preindustrial global temperature was though. I did, and came up empty. It was never defined. LOL!
If I recall correctly, the global temperature immediately before the industrial revolution was the global temperature of the Little Ice Age. No one seems to know what that temperature was either. LOL!
Thomas Gough says:
August 20, 2013 at 10:18 am
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/exception-that-proves-the-rule.html
It’s a legal maxim, established in English law in the early 17th century. Written, as law was in those days, in Latin:
Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis
and is interpreted to mean ‘exception confirms the rule in the cases not excepted’
It has (slightly modified) examples in print going back to at least 1617:
Collins: Indefinites are equivalent to vniversalls especially where one exception being made, it is plaine that all others are thereby cut off, according to the rule Exceptio figit regulam in non exceptis.
While not the earliest citation, this, from Giovanni Torriano’s Piazza universale di proverbi italiani, or A Common Place of Italian Proverbs, 1666, expresses the idea clearly:
“The exception gives Authority to the Rule.”
An instance often cited is a sign reading “No parking on Sunday”, which exception implies that on all other days, parking is allowed.
You are correct about “prove” & “test”. In Spanish, derived from Vulgar Latin, the noun “prueba” still means “test” & the verb “probar” is “to test”. Our measure of alcohol content “proof” also derives from the meaning “test”.
To describe Al ‘Wooden Indian’ Gore as a charismatic leader would require the perspicuity of a … climate scientist.
Oh. Right.
200 feet increase in sea level will put the other statue of liberty 90 feet below the surface.
National Geographic is a joke! The cover article is based on busted sea level models that are based on busted climate models. The cover article is science fiction. They should have used this for the cover:
http://www.impawards.com/2004/day_after_tomorrow_ver4.html
Mike McMillan says:
August 20, 2013 at 9:18 am
I’ve broken the sound barrier three times, once even in an old F-100. If I’d known it would cost that many billions to repair, I’d have thought twice about it.
————————————————————————————————————————————-
But in that aircraft you just barely broke the sound barrier (I think that you had to be in a slight dive at full power most of the time), so you couldn’t have really done that much damage.
Once crawled down a Super Saber’s inlet to inspect the blades for damage and grime (kinda tight with the crew making the usual jokes about dropping the Ram Air Turbine or starting the engine). This particular aircraft, with cables and chocks, would stall in full After Burner after a few seconds, Flames would come all the way out the 21′ inlet and of course the rear tailpipe. Quite impressive (and loud) to see the plane completely relax on the cables/chocks and then lunge forward again during stall and recovery. Turns out the F100 aircraft stall issues at this base were from oiling the compressor in an attempt to reduce salt corrosion (this base had lots of flight time over the ocean). Of course the oil attracted dust/dirt which spoiled the smooth airflow over the compressor blades, causing the stalls.
OldWeird … that was good, Whiskey, Tango …..
Al Gore’s (does this make me look fat?) private jet struggling for altitude.
Whatever happened to Gore he did to himself. His hypocrisy, his lack of knowledge, telling fibs, etc. earned him all the derision he gets.
Gore was a speaker at the Lake Tahoe Summit.
In his speech, he used the term ‘Global Warming’ 3 or 4 times.
Even the person who wrote the article used the Politically Correct term ‘Climate Change”.
Poor old Al is living in the past.
“there he is perceived less as a politician than as a prophet”
That says it all doesn’t it. In order to make a scientific case you have to be a prophet.
Well, I think Al Gore is a bad politician and a bad prophet who is creating a non existing problem based on (B)ull (S)hit assumptions, not even bad science.
He will fade away in history as the personification of one of the biggest government scams in human history.
Bill Mickibben’s (BM for short) treatise on movements is a veritable onslaught of verbal diarrhea. He likens the climate “movement” to that for civil rights. In his blind idiocy, he fails to see that the consequences of his crusade against “carbon” will be dire for all of humanity, but most especially the poor.
Kaboom says: @ur momisugly August 20, 2013 at 9:19 am
…The easiest fix to improve european forests as carbon sinks would be to chop them down. New growth will help. Expect recommendations to this end from leading warmist experts soon, harebrained as it may be.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The fix is already in the locals are busy chopping them down to burn in the winter so they can keep warm. …Tens of thousands of trees have disappeared from parks and woodlands this winter across Greece, authorities said, in a worsening problem that has had tragic consequences as the crisis-hit country’s impoverished residents, too broke to pay for electricity or fuel, turn to fireplaces and wood stoves for heat….
(The law of unintended consequences strikes again.)
The UK, Spain and Portugal to follow. /snark