During the 50th Anniversary celebration of the John Birch Society in October, I gave a summary of the reporting I've done on the subject of global warming and climate change over the past decade. As part of that summary, in the Power Point presentation I provided a copy of the graph of "Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa" provided by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The graph, reproduced below, shows what appears to be a startling rise in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

In my presentation, I followed up the CO2 graph with a number of temperature records from around the world showing how temperatures naturally fluctuate and I made the point that it is difficult to tie the CO2 record to the temperature record since most of the temperature fluctuations were arguably within the realm of normal and natural variation. This was not meant to be exhaustive or conclusive, but only to be thought provoking.

I didn't think then to point out that, like JBS, the Mauna Loa CO2 record is also 50 years old. That fact, however, has been noticed by Professor Roy Spencer who on his blog puts the Mauna Loa record into much better perspective.

Spencer, for those who don't know, is a climatologist of note and a former NASA scientist. He is also the author of the excellent recent book "Climate Confusion," that takes an unabashed view of the real science of climate and makes it accessible for the general reader.

On his global warming blog, Dr. Spencer celebrates the 50th year of Mauna Loa by showing the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere there as a percentage of the total atmosphere. Here is a reproduction of his graph:

Hard to see that data in the graph, isn't it? Dr. Spencer explains: "As you can see," he says in his commentary on the graph, "there has been a rapid…what? You can’t see it?…oh, I’m sorry. It’s that flat line at the bottom of the graph."

To make the data actually show up on the graph, Dr. Spencer changed the scale on the graph from 0 to 100 percent of the atmosphere to 0 to 1 percent of the atmosphere so the data stands out:

Spencer wryly concludes:

"Now can you see it? Good. As I was saying, 50 years of carbon dioxide emissions by humanity has really caused the CO2 content of the atmosphere to surge upward. It might not look like much, but trust me, Mr. Gore says."

In other global warming news, it is now being reported, based on data from the University of Illinois's Arctic Climate Research Center that "global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close."

Again, there is a graph. And what it really shows is that there is pretty regular variation in ice levels.

As for the recent growth of the polar ice cap, Bill Chapman, a researcher with the UIUC's Arctic Center, says the winds have been much lighter this year; strong winds can slow ice formation. Also, there was less snow to insulate new ice, so the ice expanded more rapidly.

Maybe now the polar bear huggers can breath a sigh of relief -- there's plenty of ice for the bears to walk around on and, hopefully, we won't have to be treated to any more doctored pictures of polar bears on little floating ice chunks.

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weed said:

caution! slippery slope i am heartened to hear some good news on global warming, but i wouldn't get too excited over mr spencer's charts. a few molecules of botulinum will still send you to the afterlife, even though they comprise less than 1/1000th of a percent of your wine cooler. i view taking steps to curtail global warming kind of like buying health insurance. sure, it costs a few bucks extra, money better spent on a nice filet mignon or shrimp cocktail, but you never know, and isn't better to be safe than sorry?

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January 08, 2009
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RichardR369 said:

	Global Warming Farce Remember something called a Farmer's Almanac? It already recognized weather patterns that there's periods of heating and cooling. We just got out of the cycle of heating and now entering the period of cooling. Scientists have noted that solar activity has died down leading to the cooling. The Global Warming scare was created to ensure government intervention into our lives.
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January 08, 2009
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anna said:

	quote of the day "So-called 'global warming' is just a secret ploy by wacko tree-huggers to make America energy independent, clean our air and water, improve the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, kick-start 21st-century industries, and make our cities safer and more livable. Don't let them get away with it."
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January 09, 2009
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archtoplee said:

	There's that "better safe than sorry" cliche again That works both ways, weed. The safer way is to forget Kyoto. The safer way is to deregulate and allow the free market to clean the environment. I notice that in the area of town where you see the tree huggers the most, the trash is flying around and the side walks are covered in chewing gum blotches. They need to practice what they preach.
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January 13, 2009
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