Alabama State Climatologist Speaks Out
Alabama State Climatologist Dr. John Christy, who also is a professor at UAH and my boss, laid out his case at the Huntsville Rotary Club for the fact that most expensive “remedies” for global warming are really only “feel good”, and won’t do anything significant. Remember, the U.S. Senate is about debate cap and trade legislation that will, in the long-term, cost jobs and increase the price of electricity.
Here is the article, straight from al.com, as it appeared in The Huntsville Times.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
That mustache is just too much.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I’m still reading up on this and looking into many papers that have been written. I honestly think both sides are wrong. I believe that we are going through a temperary global warming period. Reasons behind this can be debated but there is to much out there that suggests that currently the earth is warming. I think that this is not a long term process in otherwords, in my readings of climotology and the history of climotology, it seems evident that earth has went through short term cycles including many ice ages and many warming periods. What will cause the end of the world (religon to the side)? I believe the sun dying would have some cause of the final outcome. I mean the sun is beginning to weaken, right? All stars die right? Wouldnt that seem to be logical that the sun is getting weaker and weaker and its the sun that is the main source of heat here on earth?
Well I am still studying and am sure I have a long long ways to go.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I hesitate to comment on this topic. One of my high school friends wrote many papers about electric cars, efficiency of engines, etc. He worked at DOE until he died five years ago. Our science teachers inspired us in high school, college and beyond. Is Dr. Colemans article about academia vs. government? There are many of us in government who have been in academic environments and been co-authors or authors of scientific papers. Federal funding of projects may come if you have worked hard many years(20,30)in the field and sacrificed evenings, weekends, etc. Funding of projects is not instantaneous. Dr. Christy must have been misquoted by someone. Also, in the seventies there was concern about the environment and many of that generation are starting to retire. Will the younger generation care about the environment? Is the Green movement fruitless? Why should we try? Many of us recycle items and you know, we could just say “who cares” and quit = it’s too much trouble and won’t help anyway…
November 11th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
He needs to get rid of the ‘stache and then MAYBE I’ll listen to what he has to say.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Well, the mustache is not the issue, folks. I am more concerned about what Dr. Christy is saying.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Man caused global warming is a fraud. The data put out by people such as Al Gore has caused tremendous amounts of confusion and wrong information to be disseminated.
I am glad that you posted this.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Just came across this article: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m11d5-Climate-change-induced-disaster-predictions-falling-flat
November 11th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Ok – maybe Al isnt perfect, but many of my generation are concerned about the increase of population, cars, factories, pollution in the oceans/landfills. View earth 20,000 yrs ago vs. now.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Interesting that you global warming people have nothing more intelligent to say than to attack Dr. Christy’s mustache?
November 11th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Every single SCIENTIST I know agrees that the existence
of global warming is more than questionable.
I think it’s fishy that all of the figures, graphs, charts
etc. they have ‘published’ (peer review?) they are not
willing to share with any other scientist who wishes to
reproduce the results with the same info.
Most of you do not seem to know what publications are, what
they are for, and how they are refereed. Only that you have
an opinion.
Face it, uninformed opinion doesn’t count for much.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
It is so good to read some of Dr. Christy’s work. I follow some of his work reading blogs like wattsupwiththat and Ice Cap. I also look at some of the statistics at least I look at some independent findings such as Climateaudit
I agree in that there is some warming, it isn’t unusual, and it surely isn’t catastrophic. The little ice age ended about 200 years ago and we have been warming since. That is normal variability. I’m really getting more skeptical of the supposed cause of the warming. I don’t think it is man made.
Hooray for the good PHD.
Bill
November 11th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
And I bet he thinks the earth is 6,000 years old too
November 11th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Yea, some out there are that shallow Tim.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Regardless if you are in agreement with the global warming movement or against it; I strongly feel that religion and goverment should be left out of the equation. Its these two topics that have been injected into the debate which has made the debate ugly.
Al Gore needs to stay out of it and Pat Roberson needs to stay out of it as well.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Humans affect the environment….nobody can deny that.
Humans are not sending Earth into a warming trend though.
Earth has a few different cycles it goes through involving the tilt of the earth and its orbit around the sun. The tilt and orbit of earth change over thousands and thousands of years. Nature and weather change because of that.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
except it has been proven that the Milankovitch cycles have been proven to not be the cause of our current warming trend.
Go to youtube and search for the user greenman3610. His videos refute climate denialist talking points, like the Milankovitch cycles, which have been debunked for some time now.
November 12th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Mr. Al Gore is now worth tens of millions of dollars more than he was before starting his global warming hysteria. This is ALL about money and turning the United States of America into a third world country. If this treaty is signed in Copenhagen, the USA would have to fork over BILLIONS of dollars in penalties to third world countries. People, in case you have not realized it, we are just about broke now. Well, except for the AL Gore’s, George Soros and the 230+ career politicians in Washington D.C. who are multi-millionaires……
November 12th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I agree w/Alan in Bear Creek. Those Billions would go a long way in improving “our environment”. Money sent to third world countries does not have a good track record of reaching the intended purpose. Global warming has become a religion in its own right. You either believe or not. Science often is skewed to one side or the other for convenience.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:04 am
simple common sense science FACT…..the greenhouse effect is an “insulating” effect…..most of that insulating is done by water vapor…..co2 plays a very minor role in that total effect…..NO insulator CAN ADD heat to any system, meaning the total heat in our atmosphere is the global temperature, to get warmer requires MORE TOTAL heat in the atmosphere and NO INSULATOR is capable of adding more heat.
insulators slow heat movement but do NOT ever retain any heat.
when you wear a coat in winter does the coat get warmer each time you wear it? does it retain any heat from the last time you wore it?
POINT in summary, co2 is NOT CAPABLE of causing heat retention or heating up the entire global climate.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:20 am
God Almighty! Creator or all things – The heavens and earth. He’s in control!
Whats global is unbelief!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Sorry about mispelling – God Almighty! CREATOR OF ALL THINGS! – The heavens and the earth! He’s in control!
What’s global is unbelief!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:33 am
AMEN Dr. Christy! It’s always good to hear someone speak the truth. Man made global warming is a fraud! It’s a liberal attempt to cause panic and then gain control and make money from that panic. Look at where Gore, Pelosi and others have invested their money. There is no way possible to present an unbiased view of global warming when you stand to make billions on the “green” side.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I generally try to keep my belief in God out of these discussions but the comment
asdf Says:
“And I bet he thinks the earth is 6,000 years old too”
Perhaps you should go and read the first and 2nd chapters of Genesis. I think it says In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, This was before the days were started being counted. Then after man was created it says, Go forth and “replenish the earth” If this is what you reference I don’t think the 6000 year statement is quite representative of what the Bible says. Just a point to think about. If you don’t agree that is fine, but don’t ridicule others belief. Being Christian doesn’t make you ignorant, there are some that might think just the opposite. These are personal beliefs and not part of this discussion.
I hope that you aren’t offended but your ad hominem statement was unnecessary to the discussion.
Bill
June 16th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
[...] First of all, there is scientific merit for the idea of anthropogenic global warming. The increase in CO2 due to burning coal, oil, and natural gas does have a small warming effect. However, some actual “pollution”, like smoke and sulfur compounds, has a slight cooling effect. Natural effects like volcanoes and sunspots can have a large impact on our climate. For more on that, read my post called Global Warming – A Review from October 22, 2009. Dr. John Christy, Alabama’s State Climatologist, summarized the futility of our taking costly measures to try to prevent climate change in early November 2009. He pointed out that: 1) The data used to predict catastrophic warming is suspect; 2) The “remedies” are expensive and do little (e.g., We would have to replace 1,000 coal-fired power plants with nuclear ones to produce a 0.15 degree C change in global temperature). Read the full story here. [...]