| As the Senate gears up to introduce its version of | | | | slightly behind. |
| the House's cap-and-trade global warming legislation | | | | And Plimer's book was published before last |
| next week, it's instructive to consider the impact of | | | | November's Climategate, in which a whistleblower in |
| myriad geological, meteorological, and astronomic | | | | the UK publicly exposed researchers from one of the |
| effects on climate change, as exhaustively chronicled | | | | three leading climate data collection centers in the |
| in Australian scientist Ian Plimer's essential new book | | | | world as having evaded Freedom of Information |
| Heaven and Earth: Global Warming: The Missing | | | | requests, colluded to keep skeptics' research from |
| Science. | | | | being published, and failed to be able to reconstruct |
| Plimer's book, published last year, boasts 2,000 | | | | tortuous data manipulations they had applied in order |
| footnotes from an array of sources including top | | | | to generate the conclusions they wanted. |
| peer-reviewed journals such as Nature, Science, and | | | | Lest closed-minded warmists dismiss Plimer as a |
| Geophysical Research Letters; journals on solar | | | | religious, right-wing knuckle-dragger, Plimer has also |
| physics, hydrological science, and glaciology; books on | | | | authored books deconstructing the scientific case for |
| climate change, environmentalism, and the history of | | | | creationism, and has received criticism from |
| science; and research by dozens of climate change | | | | conservatives for this line of work. |
| skeptics. Plimer also dissects the various contradictory | | | | Plimer's thesis also happens to be perfectly embodied |
| iterations of the United Nations' Intergovernmental | | | | by last week's historic volcano eruption in Iceland. |
| Panel on Climate Change's reports. | | | | The eruption at Eyjafjallajökull, whose name is |
| His evaluation of the anthropogenic global warming | | | | almost as long and complicated as the House's |
| hypothesis? Pure, unadulterated waffle. | | | | cap-and-trade bill, left Europe covered in clouds of |
| If "agnostic" is to "atheist" what "skeptic" is to | | | | dark ash and shut down virtually all air transportation |
| "denier," then Plimer would happily plant himself in the | | | | across the continent. |
| denier camp. | | | | In his book, Plimer delineates the historic effects of |
| Plimer demolishes AGW by broadening the scientific | | | | volcanic activity on climate. For example, in just a |
| timeline under consideration to incorporate thousands, | | | | few days, a major volcano can spew more CO2, |
| at times millions, of years to show how climate has | | | | dust, and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere than |
| been changing through hot and cold swings much | | | | humans can in a year. Yet significant volcanic |
| wider than anything we've seen in recent centuries, | | | | eruptions typically lead to years-long drops in |
| and all in the absence of disposable Starbucks cups. | | | | temperature, due to the extra cloud cover and solar |
| In graph after graph, Plimer depicts the cyclical | | | | reflection they create, which means that skiing in St. |
| effects of sunspots, glaciation, tilts in the earth's | | | | Moritz should be lovely this winter. |
| orbit, ocean currents, CO2 reabsorption by the | | | | Last year the Australian parliament considered and, in |
| oceans, plate tectonics, clouds, and volcanic eruptions | | | | large part thanks to the efforts of Plimer and other |
| on global temperature. He covers the Medieval | | | | skeptics, narrowly rejected a cap-and-trade scheme |
| Warming period from 900 to 1300 AD, which was | | | | that would have crippled the continent's energy |
| warmer than today, and points out the vastly higher | | | | production systems. |
| concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere during | | | | Due to U.S. Congressional Democrats' politically suicidal |
| previous Ice Ages. He details the beneficial effects | | | | stubbornness, cap-and-trade is evidently going to be |
| that warmer periods historically have had on crop | | | | this year's health care reform. |
| growth, species survival, and human longevity. He | | | | To reiterate the point crystallized in Plimer's book: if |
| documents the inadequacy and inconsistency of land | | | | there's so much uncertainty regarding whether human |
| temperature measurements, relative to satellite | | | | carbon dioxide emissions have any measurable |
| measurements, the latter of which show global | | | | influence on temperature increases, and a greater |
| cooling. He notes the utter failure of any global | | | | probability that temperature increases are beneficial |
| warming model to correctly predict that the earth | | | | than harmful, why are we rushing to shoot the |
| would start cooling in 1998. | | | | world's greatest economies in the foot? |
| Plimer mentions Al Gore's camp classic An | | | | Molecular biologist Henry Miller wrote in Forbes last |
| Inconvenient Truth, and cites a British court's 2007 | | | | week, "Every schoolchild these days seems to be a |
| ruling that there are nine major factual errors in the | | | | devoted environmentalist, able to spell 'sustainable' |
| movie, and that in order to be shown in public | | | | before 'dog.' However, much of the indoctrination |
| classrooms the film has to be accompanied by a | | | | about environmentalism-especially in schools-is of the |
| written manual and teacher instruction to correct all | | | | passion-is-more-important-than-fact variety... Too |
| of the alarmist falsehoods. One of the nine gaffes is | | | | often the objective of student projects seems to be |
| the movie's failure to note that CO2 emissions have | | | | 'empowering' the kids and giving them a feeling of |
| not been shown to cause temperature increases, but | | | | accomplishment instead of getting the right answer |
| rather have historically lagged behind temperature | | | | and learning scientific principles." In other words, the |
| increases. That's right-a British court actually ruled | | | | first step to "empowerment" in the natural world is |
| that there is no evidence that carbon dioxide | | | | learning what you can and can't change through being |
| emissions, human or otherwise, cause or even | | | | empowered. It seems many adults have yet to learn |
| precede temperature increases-only that they lag | | | | that lesson. |