The XX Factor

Cold Enough for You?

Could 2010 be the year that shakes the foundation of the global warming “consensus”? A new study shows that climate models may have overstated the amount of carbon dioxide sent into the atmosphere as a result of industrialization. According to the findings , “This suggests that terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans have a much greater capacity to absorb CO 2 than had been previously expected.” This study follows the Climategate (I prefer the more felicitous “Warmergate”) e-mails. These leaked exchanges by top climate scientists show a disturbing pattern of cherry-picking and manipulating data in order to make the most alarming case possible for global warming.

Not only have the e-mails raised questions about the certainty of the science, there was also the farcical nature of much of the Copenhagen conference (Hugo Chavez railing against capitalism; mass murderer Robert Mugabe invited to speak). And now here we are, with vast swaths of the planet breaking historical records for cold and snow. Of course, anyone who points that out that it’s cold outside is told it’s moronic to cite weather as evidence that warming predictions have been overstated (Al Gore warned here that if we don’t control our carbon output Earth could end up having the average temperature of Venus: 867 degrees). The climate scientists say the cold and lack of continued warming for the past decade-in defiance of their computer models-is just a natural variation that has no meaning for the overall warming trend. But any time a heat record is broken, those same scientists cite weather conditions as proof of our doom.

Just think what a benefit to humanity it would be if it turned out the case for global warming is weak. We could stop remaking the world’s economy at a cost of trillions, and poor people in developing countries could enjoy the myriad comforts and benefits of carbon-based modern life.