I’ve been looking for an opportunity to use the Goracle photo for some time, and my favorite Bookworm has provided it. SMM readers, I’m sure, are aware of “The Gore Effect:” commonly, wherever Al Gore turns up to lecture on global warming, a blizzard ensues. I’ve always considered this evidence that the universe does indeed have a sense of humor. Consider this from the Goracle:
In his Dec. 10, 2007 Nobel Prize speech, Gore said ‘Last September 21, as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress that the North Polar ice cap is ‘falling off a cliff.’ One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as 7 years.
That’s right, gentle readers, the northern polar ice cap should have disappeared by 2014. Reality is, as usual, something else:
The same year that former Vice President Al Gore predicted that the Arctic sea ice could be completely gone, Arctic ice reached its highest level in two years, according to a report by the Danish Meteorological Institute.
There is no such thing as sufficient mockery of Al Gore. 
Cold weather, however, is particularly newsworthy to those of us living in North Texas these days. I’ve occasionally written about the delight of Mrs. Manor and me in observing the behavior of my fellow Texans when a bit of cold, snow or ice comes around, as they tend to do every spring. Driving conditions that would occasion nothing more than a bit of scraping of windshields in the Wyoming and South Dakota of my relative youth, tend to paralyze North Texas. As I’m now in the second full day of an unscheduled ice vacation from school, contemplating the looming possibility of a third, I though I’d share this lovely, and all-too-try, graphic provided by Bookworm. If her blog–Bookworm Room–isn’t a daily stop in your net rounds, it should be.
Stately McDaniel Manor 
FYI: so-called “Global Warming” isn’t about some gentle, gradual warming of the environment. It’s about adding energy to the atmosphere, which in turn creates dynamic weather. You may have noticed that the terminology has been shifting to “Climate Change,” intended to reduce confusion.
Al Gore aside (it seems like all controversial issues tend to breed some level of grand-standering and buffoonery on both sides), and clearing away various crackpot studies on both ends of the spectrum, the science clearly supports evidence of accelerated climate change in progress. The questions that remain are 1] how much of climate change can be attributed to man-made influences, and 2] is there anything man can/should do to counteract climate change.
oops – – “grand standering” isn’t a thing … but maybe it should be! :-)
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.
The climate has been changing since the world was formed. Only a politician would believe they could control the weather if only they had more of my money. C02 makes up .03% of our atmosphere. Water vapor is what controls the climate and it rises and falls depending on solar output. We have as much chance of controlling the sun as we do the weather. Climate change is about nothing more than control of the people and stealing your money.
Of course we can’t control the weather – – I have not heard anyone claiming they can control weather outside of B movies. There is a difference between “affect” and “control”. Any firefighter will tell you that they cannot Control a fire (except maybe a very small “contained” fire … but then again, we can also control weather inside large and small buildings too) Still, we pour water on the fire and certainly don’t pour gasoline on it – – even in small quantities.
Numbers are very easy to spin to make things sound really big or really insignificant. .03% of something is 300 parts per million. Is this small or large? It depends on many things. Here are a few examples of other commonly recognized items in concentrate:
–CO2 in atmosphere = 300 ppm
–Chlorine in pool water = 1 to 3 ppm (it is not safe to swim over 3 ppm)
–Ricin = 22 ppm is toxic in the human body
–Coliform bacteria = 235 ppm in a sample is where they close the beach
–Your 2012 vote was equivalent to 0.008 ppm (1 out of 129,000,000 votes cast in 2012 presidential election)
Some Fun Facts along the same line:
–If you were given 0.03% of the National Debt, you, your children, your children’s children, etc could all live comfortably without working for the next several hundred years. (heh – – don’t want to hijack and send this post down another path)
–At standard atmospheric conditions, .03% of the atmosphere would be a blanket of CO2 over the entire earth about 7 feet thick if it were purely concentrated
Finally, the Water Vapor vs CO2 contribution is a bit like the chicken/egg discussion except easier. Water Vapor has a very large impact, as mentioned. CO2 is persistent “stable” atmospheric gas that changes slowly, while water vapor content is transient and changes quickly. The thing is, as CO2 slowly builds up, the additional heat retention from the CO2 vaporizes more water more quickly, and then the additional water vapor magnifies the effect. It’s like that movie, Gremlins … once you get ’em wet the effect is multiplied like crazy.