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A recent Forbes article titled ‘Record Cold And Snow Destroy Global Warming Claims’ has prompted one of the liveliest debates yet seen in our ‘Underground Knowledge’ discussion group with the various factions defending their beliefs quite vehemently in some cases. No surprises there given the passionate claims and counter-claims surrounding this most topical of issues.

Excerpts from the Forbes article, which was dated Feb. 25, 2015, follow:

Yet another bitterly cold, snowy winter is destroying alarmist global warming claims, proving once again that over-the-top global warming predictions are proving no more scientifically credible than snake oil…

…Connecticut is experiencing its coldest February in recorded history. So is Michigan. So is Toronto. Cleveland and Chicago are experiencing their second coldest February in recorded history. Frigid and record cold temperatures are being set from Key West to International Falls. At the same time, blizzard after blizzard is burying much of the nation with record winter snow totals, with winter snowfall records beings set from Boston to Denver. Global warming activists are in full-throttle damage control, desperately claiming global warming causes record snow and cold…

…The most meaningful lesson from the unusually cold and snowy recent winters is that global warming is so minor as to be barely noticeable…Global warming alarmists will still try to sell their snake oil, hoping you will forget that tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, snow, and heat waves all really did occur prior to 1988. Most of these events actually occurred more frequently in decades past. And global warming activists will try to induce you to forget their prior snake-oil predictions, like the warm and snow-free predictions issued by the IPCC.

For the full Forbes article go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2015/02/25/cold-and-snow-destroy-global-warming-claims/

Predictably, the Forbes article sparked a flurry of comments from our fellow Undergrounders (members of our Underground Knowledge group) including one from a learned member who says, “The global discussion on Global Heating has moved way, way beyond the whole ‘is it real?’ stuff.” He claims, “To still be pondering that is akin to still being debating whether the Earth is round or flat, purely because the Flat Earth Society insists that its view be heard. Flat Earthers get laughed out of town these days.”

Members’ randomly selected comments follow:

The point that I was trying to make, regarding Global Warming, is that it’s important not to allow deniers to sow doubt where none exists. It’s a typical Big Brother tactic. If facts don’t suit your agenda, and the evidence for them is such that you can’t deny them outright, sow doubt among the population at large about them. Start a “debate” which distracts attention and energy from worthwhile discussion and progress… exactly what is happening here. It’s a little disappointing to see that you’ve swallowed the Big Brother bait on this one.

The Forbes article – yawn. More establishment doubt-sowing. “Some Snow Destroys Global Warming Claims” is about as good as “Some Cheeseburgers Destroy Global Hunger Claims” or “Some Money Destroys Global Poverty Claims”. You’re correct, Forbes hasn’t run any articles lately questioning whether the Earth is round or flat, but then, the Flat Earth Society don’t have media and political lobbyists backed by billions of oil money, either.

This article in London’s leading newspaper The Telegraph with the headline ‘The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth… The first paragraph from this mainstream media article is perhaps telling: When future generations look back on the global-warming scare of the past 30 years, nothing will shock them more than the extent to which the official temperature records – on which the entire panic ultimately rested – were systematically “adjusted” to show the Earth as having warmed much more than the actual data justified.

The “debate” that exists in mainstream media is fossil-fuel company sponsored diversion of public attention from the fact that their industry is wrecking the planet. Among the scientific community there is overwhelming consensus on the issue. If you still need evidence for global warming, here is as good a place to start as any: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

It seems like every one has an opinion, but only the best scientists have the data. Those scientists provide a large set of data that would suggest global warming is real. No where though did anyone say it was linear, which it isn’t.

We (Earthlings) are either in an Ice Age or between Ice Ages. If we are between, as is the case now, we are either coming out of the last Ice Age or heading into the next one…so we either warm up or we cool down. In other words…we’ve seen it all before. Any takers? No? Too simple perhaps? The thing that worries me about this whole global warming debate is the amount of money up for grabs. Even IF the naysayers are wrong about global warming, I smell something…the whiff of corruption perhaps?

I find it a bit curious that anybody is still questioning the existence of human induced climate change. Some people might believe that some US president first realised this, but the first scientist to recognise it, as far as I know, was Tyndall in about 1850. Newspapers are worthless sources of information. They can’t get anything right. Journalists are not scientists.

Group member and author Dr. Stephen Martino posted the following: “Global warming has become a fact in today’s public school curriculums. People who deny its existence are considered “deniers” and/or ignorant. However, we must ask: Is global warming indeed factual or is it some myth that is perpetuated by our government to further control our lives, finances and daily activities? “Some facts that contradict the global warming theory include: 1. The earth has not gotten any warmer since 1998 2. The Northern Polar ice cap is getting larger despite Al Gore’s prediction that it would be absent by 2014 3. The amount of CO2 in our atmosphere is almost negligible at 0.04%.”

If you want a proper assessment of climate issues you need to get information from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or the scientific literature. IPCC reports are balance reports written by 1000 scientists worldwide with no political axe to grind. IPCC reports are free of charge as are the data from which the climate assessments are made. Those reports explain why, e.g., ice ages are not an issue.

Greenhouse Effect: The radiative effect of particular gases in the atmosphere (h2o, CO2, CH4, N2O) which act in concert to raise the global temperature and cause other climate effects.

global warming: the change in global temperature.

climate change: the change in the earth’s climate.

These terms are not vague: it is you that is ignorant of them.

Blah, blah, blah again. At best and very magnanimously, a continuation of “scientific fact until next revision.”

To view all the comments, or better still to have YOUR say, go to: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2244487-global-warming—is-it-real

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Membership of our rapidly growing ‘Underground Knowledge’ group on the popular Goodreads.com literary site has now topped 660. Do visit the group at: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/142309-underground-knowledge—a-discussion-group

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