Dear WeatherCat climate watchers,
Some of you may have also noticed the Study by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Washington that attributes warmer temperatures in the western parts of the United States and Canada to variations in wind. There are two article on the study with an interesting take:
http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/09/west-coast-warming-due-to-natural-factors-study/http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140923/NEWS/140929990/study-says-warmer-northwest-due-to-winds-not-humansThe results are a bit surprising, but according to the authors they were able to explain the temperature fluxions over a period of over a century with great precision. If true, that is the sort of quality scientific research we desperately need more of.
The other article is a response to demonstrations over the weekend to pressure more political action on global warming. Be forewarned it is a conservative opinion but it is skillfully and thoughtfully argued:
http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/23/climate-marchers-promote-a-moral-travesty/ The main thrust of this argument is that calls for more funding to reduce CO
2 emissions puts an unfair burden on those who least able to shoulder it: the poor people of the world and especially those in the third world. Western civilization has made great advances precisely because of availability of comparatively plentiful and economical sources of energy. To demand that the third world attempt to catch up with the west using only much more exotic and expensive technologies is a burden they simply cannot afford. Whereas, perhaps it can be argued that the first world can afford to switch to
"green energy" (although there is considerable reason to doubt this,) those in the third world simply lack the economic resources to do so. As a result, the environmental movement is effectively demanding that those in the third world suffer and die, when those in the first world weren't forced to progress so slowly.
There is definitely some food for thought here. Global warming is definitely a
cause c?l?bre these days, but not that long ago there was another issue on center stage: terrorism. Terrorism has one essential ingredient:
desperation and desperation is clearly on the rise in the third world. I've always thought that global warming was a more complex issue that most people believe, but this is definitely a perplexing and troubling wrinkle.
Edouard
