Whatever we do the planet is doomed... dooomed!

Good thing the whole thing goes up in smoke December 2012. The cockroaches will survive though.

Someone better let the global warming nuts know about the recent cooling trend. According to NASA and the Arctic Research Center the oceans are now cooling and sea ice is where it was 29 years ago.

That the person is listed as a "NASA" climatologist, AND Uses NPR as a sound board... Means there is a high probability of political shenanigans, and Algore falsehoods. Keeping in mind how "NASA" climatologists showed proof that last October was coldest on record (by taking the hottest months data from Russia, and copy pasting it in August, September and October (which then negated all the 'coldest temperatures in recorded history, which they could not change)... And, then the media forgot to report it... (that is 'you guys, too)... I tend not to believe her, either. Keep in mind, the 'copy paster' was Algore's mentor, and head of the weather out of Goddard...

Make the comment about the 'coldest October...' report from NASA be amended to read that they adjusted the data to show it was hottest (when it really was the coldest...)

Not true.....the fact that the ice sheets are back to what they were 29 years ago has been explained and is understood and does not mean the earth is cooling....the reason is that the initial consequences of our pollution was infact a cooling of the earth and the reason for the hard winters in the 40's and 60's. In those days the pollution had alot of particles which blocked out the sun causing the cooling...also at that time the co2 levels had not risen significantly....today the co2 levels have grown and the level of particles in the pollution has decreased so the co2 is now exerting its warming effect...so the ice sheets are now melting back to what they were before the pollution instigated cooling....but they are not going to stop there and that is the problem.

This Solomon lady is relying on incomplete and inaccurate data, but of course this is the main article getting the Press lately. I'm sure Joe Biden feels vindicated that he announced during the VP debate that he unequivocally accepts anthropogenic global warming as fact. I hope that Obama is smarter and seeks the other side of the equation before enacting misguided policy. http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/670

@technogiant - so you are saying we need to pollute more to curb warming and kick start a "nuclear winter" scenario? Because that's what it seems like. More particulates in the atmosphere = less sunlight getting through = less warming. I just call it "global climate change" to cover all of my bases.

too much talking and not enough action. This article proves we're all still just argueing about it, hopefully the US (being one of the worst environmental offenders) will get a kickstart from the new administration.

Global Warming is junk science - here is the proof - put out by the US Senate committe on Environment: U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims - Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008 http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord;_id=2674e64f-802a-23ad-490b-bd9faf4dcdb7

OK, my way of thinking is plain and simple: Human knowledge hasn't yet managed to explain everything in the world we live, so, the way things really work may not be the way our theories say they do. So, to me, there is just not enough evidence that the earth is warming up. We may *think* the earth is warming up, because our theories say so, but none of this may actually be happening. And even if it does -- there is no evidence that a global warming effect will cause the earth to become a hell to live on, and not just a mere inconvenience that will bother nobody. Anyway, I hate such doom sayers as this guy, almost as much as I hate Greenpeace. HEY GREENPEACE AND DOOM SAYERS! IF you want to REALLY DO something about the earth, apart from screaming nonsense, go and complain about the governments AND THEIR ELECTRICITY FACTORIES, that still burn coal in the 21st century. France manages to produce electricity with little harm to the environment, due to use of alternative sources, but other countries don't upgrade their powerplants due to cost. Stop attacking people with big cars and people that forget to switch of the light bulb and do something that will have meaning!!

What technogiant is talking about is that in the 80's and 90's there was many laws and regulations that were created to reduce fine particle pollutants spewed out into the atmosphere which was counteracting the CO2 (aka green house gases) effect on the planet. Now that there is very little fine particle pollutants being released means that there is nothing to cut the amount of sun rays that enter out atmosphere. For example there was a study done on September 11, 2001 that showed when there was a "no fly" order imposed upon the USA which caused much less plain induced clouds in the sky the temperature raised by 5 degrees in one day. This may have been an anomaly but it goes to show how much filtering can be done. I just want people to understand that temperature is a logarithmic scale and not linear therefore 1 degree change on average is a big deal never mind 5 degrees. These days most smoke stacks have pollution scrubbers which remove 90%+ of the fine particle pollutants (probably more) and the reason why there were laws and regulations put in place is because that type of pollutants cause a real effect on humans, generally through lung disease and breathing problems (Asthma, emphysema, ...). I am not saying to start spewing out fine particle pollutants to counter-act the CO2 but by not fully understanding things we made things worst. I personally don't think this is irreversible (we could come up with technologies that would allow us to convert CO2 to a less toxic or non-greenhouse gas, heck even something useful that we can use) but scare tactics should be used with caution. This Soloman person still thinks we should do what we can so I do feel like there is something being hidden in that statement so I don't think everything is lost. I personally hope my car last long enough that I can buy a fully electric car, currently have 343000KM on my car :(. I'm trying to do my part but hey if the industry doesn't allow people to have this there is very little I can do. The guv needs to step in and open a can of whoop ass to allow people the privilege to select what they want. We have the technology and the know how to do this.

Top climatologist? Get your facts straight - - she's just another Berkeley babe drinking and spouting the Kool-Aide. For once, try to not regurgitate as "fact" things you know nothing about. THE EARTH IS ENTERING A %^Y%^&! COOLING PHASE. CHECK WITH THE RUSSIANS. BTW, THE ENEMY OF LIFE ON EARTH IS COLD, NOT HEAT. Check out the top science blog* for informed commentary on this latest Solomon idiocy: wattsupwiththat.com --- http://tinyurl.com/brbatx *my facts are straight, unlike yours.

technogiant your ridiculous just like the rest of your global warming scaremonger do-gooder friends. First its hot and we are all gonna die...now its cold because its hot and we are all gonna die. I have an idea...if you and the rest of the Algore legions of dodo bird self-styled idiots will just kill yourselves im sure we can all agree you folks will have successfully saved the Earth...please make sure Al Gore goes first. Thanks...for nothing.

stop spreading lies and misinformation ! CO2 is not toxic!!! It is a completely harmless and odorless gas that naturally occurs and is essential for life ! Period. You cant make something "less toxic" that is already non-toxic....get educated and stop spewing Al Gore lies and misinformation. The planet is not static...things change...and CO2 is not the cause of climate variation !

It does not really matter how far along we are in damaging the environment. Lets face it, nothing is going to be done about it anyhow. Sure there will be a lot of talk, and a lot of token gestures, but no real action. Even now, heavy gas guzzling four wheel drives are the order of the day. Car ads on the TV still emphasise engine power and performance (which is obviously still what matters to consumers), appealing to the bloated male ego. PC power supply vendors still sell bigger and bigger power supplies (some over 1000 watts). If people were by and large sensible and responsible, global warming would never had happened in the first place. And unless some miracle happens to change the personalities of the worlds populations overnight, then we really are doomed. But a quick glance thru the history books, and a look through the newspapers (or at this web site) will show the obvious facts that mankind was never going to have a happy ending. Lets just carry on regardless and go out with a bang.

Hey Vince, learn to read. Nowhere does she say she is a NASA climatologist. She is from the National Academy of Science, not the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Try reading what the article says before pouncing.

ok, first thing. Lets put up the tax's!!! after all, we have at least 100 years of accurate data to base this on, given that our planet has only been around for billions of years, and that we are about 10,000 years overdue for an ice age. Also, as per our uk government, were going to have to cut back next xmas and not waste too much food!!! also, we all need to buy heavy duty green bags, so that we can forget them, and then buy another one next time we go. After that its pretty simple. Our planet is warming up as "historic" data shows (sorry gotta laugh), due to 4x4's, ok, you all got that? Forget the fact that every electrical component we use in the world creates a by product of heat, that doesnt count ok. On top of that? well, we need to cut back on kids. You know, the things we all once were that will breath, consume and eat for close to 80 years (and probably fart alot, if they have our lovely kebabs as advertised recently). so, now we jsut need to get those tax's raised! who's with me? Carbon footprint my ass!!!

"What we're showing here is that's not right. It's essentially an irreversible change that will last for more than a thousand years". If this is irreversable, umm, shouldn't it last, oh I don't know.... forever??? :)

The funny thing about this is she seems to completely ignore the fact that the scientific community is not simply working on ways to reduce emissions but to fix the problems we've already caused. Hell it was on this site I read an article about a engineered microbe which eats CO2, here's the article for those interested http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/137/1048137/man-invents-microbes-eat-co2 Anyway the simple fact is that while we are doing harm to the enviroment there is a lot of work going into how to limit, if not completely negate, future harm while fixing what harm we have done. Add to that fact that none of the damage we have done will result in an unlivable planet for at the very least another 100 years and given the rate of scientific advancement we'll probably have methods to fix all the damage inside of the next 50 there is no real reason for doomsday papers to be published. That said we should continue to work on renewable energy and cutting down on polution just because it will be better for both the planet and society at large.

Winter 2008 in Canada was the coldest in a hundred years. Winter 2009 is close on it's heals. The mayor of Fairbanks recently made an ice sculpture of Al Gore because this winter is the coldest on record so far. My cousins that live in Canada but are only ~100km from the Alaska border didn't have a single day with a high of 20 degrees C or more in 2008. The reality is the climate changes due to thousands of factors. Sun spot activity is a major one. We can't place our good faith on what to do for the planet on computer models. In 2006 climatologists predicted the worst season ever for hurricanes based super-computer models. Then what?, there wasn't a single hurricane in 2006. You can't get more wrong than that. Computer climate models are as problematic as AI scripting and far more complex. As for me I'm trying to do my part to reduce my footprint on the planet in relation to garbage, energy, and pollution. As inhabitants of this unique world I think it's everyone's responsibility to better ourselves. This includes reducing energy expenditures, recycling, not littering, and a plethora of others.

and any fool aka lemming that follows the cult of Gore is an idiot too. It's about money and control. They base all their lies on biased computer models and outright lies and disception to make the lemmings believe and there are allot of socialist idiots out there. Need proof look who we have running the country now, socialists tree hugging kooks. No war but kill unborn children all you want through abortion.

that's the way....if you don't understand an argument just attack the person...secondly if you are going to call people uneducated at least check your facts "CO2 not toxic"????? WRONG. At current atmospheric levels it is not...but it is toxic when it reaches a certain proportion...ask yourself why they "scrub" co2 from the air in submarines etc....people like you make me dispair...are we really worth saving.... Secondly one of the other commentators was saying I was advocating more pollution to increase particles in the air....I wasn't....but if we were to actively pump a large quantity of fine inert material which had a reflective nature into the upper atmosphere that might buy us more time to get greenhouse gases under control.

She added "I guess if it's irreversible, to me it seems all the more reason you might want to do something about it". That's liberal "science" for you. But don't you dare question their math: then you're the equivalent of a holocaust denier.

Ok, US Senate Report, from 2008... right, not going to believe that. Look at all the other denials of truth. NASA saying the ice sheet is cooling the oceans. partly true... Think about it all that Ice up north, and south melt, still cools the water, and any plug of a cold water stream from those areas can now enter into other areas. The real truth? Take a look at Greenland, there's a ton of new growth, and ice is melting at a rapid pace. Even the Northwest Passage up around Canada is thawing, pretty soon selling a refrigerator, freezer, or ice cream to an Eskimo will no longer be a joke. Common people, you need evidence? get off your lazy-in-denial rump, and take a trip and see for yourself.

Adding to what Paul said, Spring is now occurring earlier and earlier. Look at the records for "the first cuckoo of spring", the first daffodil, etc etc. Some of these "features" depend on day-length, and thus haven't moved. Others depend on temperature and, over the last century, have now moved FORWARD about *four* *weeks* if I remember correctly. "Extreme weather" events seem to be occurring with more and more frequency. My favourite statistic is "the hottest summer on record". Pick ANY year from about 1980 onwards. Look at that year's "ten hottest summers". Most of them will be in the preceding ten years. I lived through the sweltering summer of 1976. It dropped out of the top ten about 1990! Oh - and rising average temperatures doesn't mean the temperature will rise where you are - the forecast for the UK in a warmer world is that our winters will get much colder. Cheers, Wol

Climate change - they say it like its a new thing we just invented. BOLLOCKS!!!! why doesn't anyone study history anymore? I remember being told that Earth many yonks ago was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold, then you geddit! """So remember readers: an extra hour to your car ride today may help make it a warm, sunny day at the London coral reef for your grateful ancestors no matter what those UN hippies try.""" - bloody right!

I really love it when ppl say things like they have personally been to the artic and saved the polar bear cub with their own 2 hands from drowning. ""The real truth? Take a look at Greenland, there's a ton of new growth, and ice is melting at a rapid pace.""- really? You've been there and counted the new shrubs and weighed the ice? Like I said ABOVE ""BUGGER OFF!"" and go and hug a whale in the Artic

When the world's "leading climatologists" can predict, accurately and reliably mind you, the weather THIS WEEKEND, I'll start listening to what they have to say about climate 100 years from now. Keep in mind that 30 years ago the worlds "leading climatologists" wanted to dust the Arctic Polar cap with coal dust to combat the global cooling problem that was going to be a disaster for our generation. That scare was started by the same nutcase who started the global warming hoopla we're going through right now. To Paul: Greenland is called that because when it was named, they grew GRAPES AND OLIVES there. Look it up. The climate on this planet changes from time to time, and try as we might, it's going to change with or without us. The rest of the crap spewed by Al Gore and his ilk is just an attempt to reroute money and accumulate power over our lives by making us believe this oversold "emergency" is our fault. ENOUGH.

It is funny how these global warming nay-sayers always come out of the wood work whenever something interesting and significant is reported in reputable journals about the subject. Looking at the comments here one would have to assume that, sure, they all have Ph.D.:s on Climatology to be reporting so confidently about such a complicated topic!

@Pekka - nice one. I'd like to know what, for example, "I know"s qualifications are. Mine are simple - I have a garden, I'm interested in nature, and I watch what's going on around me. I've *seen* my local weather *change*. (Oh - I do have a few other qualifications too - like being a scientist, but I think applying my scientific training to what I see out my kitchen window is plenty good enough. :-) And when, in the last 40 years, some 30 of those years have been "(almost) the hottest summer on record" you start to wonder. Oh - and for the nay-sayers, I'm not talking about some newfangled record keeping system - these records date back to George III's great-(about 4 times great)-grandfather's day - we do have a bit of history here. Cheers, Wol

Ok sure CO2 is not toxic to humans at all eh.... give you a challenge dumbass get a mask attached to a tank of CO2 and see how long you live with that. CO2 is not toxic in the sense that it kills us outright but we can't live with a highly CO2 rich atmosphere. Anyway there is much worst green house gases like methane which is produced from all animals on this planet.

The truth of the matter is, we all produce waste, we all drive cars that consume fossil fuels and exhaust nasty stuff into the air. We all obviously must use computers that suck energy that also causes pollution. If we all want to save the world, the easiest solution would be for us all to kill ourselves. We are the biggest enemy of this planet and everything else that lives on it. We take more then we need, we do not live in balance and therefore we will be our own downfall....and we'll live happily ever after.

people are “arrogant” for assuming that “this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings,” Transcript: INSKEEP: It has been mentioned that NASA is not spending as much money as it could to study climate change — global warming — from space. Are you concerned about global warming? GRIFFIN: I’m aware that global warming exists. I understand that the bulk of scientific evidence accumulated supports the claim that we’ve had about a one degree centigrade rise in temperature over the last century to within an accuracy of 20 percent. I’m also aware of recent findings that appear to have nailed down — pretty well nailed down the conclusion that much of that is manmade. Whether that is a longterm concern or not, I can’t say. INSKEEP: Do you have any doubt that this is a problem that mankind has to wrestle with? GRIFFIN: I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn’t change. First of all, I don’t think it’s within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take. INSKEEP: Is that thinking that informs you as you put together the budget? That something is happening, that it’s worth studying, but you’re not sure that you want to be battling it as an army might battle an enemy? GRIFFIN: Nowhere in NASA’s authorization, which of course governs what we do, is there anything at all telling us that we should take actions to affect climate change in either one way or another. We study global climate change, that is in our authorization, we think we do it rather well. I’m proud of that, but NASA is not an agency chartered to, quote, battle climate change.

The Dumbness that some of you people are displaying is quite scary. Global warming isn't just scientific fact, its blatently obviously extremely well demonstrated scientific fact. Anyone who believes otherwise based on God knows what crazy or ill informed reasoning they might dig up is a complete idiot. I'll wager a guess here and say that there is a much larger percentage of creationists and similar religious loons in the non-believers camp than there is in the camp that actually accepts the scientific facts?

I have noticed over the last several months that the media has been flooded with global warming news releases a week or so before a major global cooling announcement (by the same organizations) had to be announced. For instance when it was announced a few weeks back that North pole ice is at the same level as 1979, we got alarmist articles how the ice was melting faster then ever (using data from 2003 - 2007). I think we are about to get data on just how cold this year is, and that it is colder then last year where we experienced a 0.7 C drop in average global temp. That is why we are seeing the current flurry of alarmist news releases

Global Warming on Mars, Pluto, Triton and Jupiter strongly points towards the Sun or Some other cosmic force being the cause of the recent global warming on Earth. From National Geographic: “Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.“ From MIT on Pluto “the average surface temperature of the nitrogen ice on Pluto has increased slightly less than 2 degrees Celsius over the past 14 years.” Since Pluto is moving further away from the Sun and continuing to warm despite that fact, it indicates that something doesn’t fit into “Solar Constant” dismissal theories. From Space.com on Jupiter: “The latest images could provide evidence that Jupiter is in the midst of a global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit on different parts of the globe.” From MIT on Triton: “At least since 1989, Triton has been undergoing a period of global warming. Percentage-wise, it’s a very large increase,” said Elliot, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and director of the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. The 5 percent increase on the absolute temperature scale from about minus-392 degrees Fahrenheit to about minus-389 degrees Fahrenheit would be like the Earth experiencing a jump of about 22 degrees Fahrenheit.” So there is Global Warming on at least 4 other bodies in our Solar System that co-insides with the recent warming on Earth. Doesn’t this point strongly towards the Sun or some other Cosmic force as the cause? On the origin of the runaway global warming theory of CO2 Feedback and Venus (PDF): “Why is the albedo of Venus important? When the albedo is at 0.80, the Global Warming Theory falls apart. . . The carbon dioxide levels on Earth have risen from approximately 0.028% to 0.036% in the last few decades. It is a major stretch to compare this with Venus at a 96.500% carbon dioxide level and promote an uncontrollable runaway condition. Earth in its early history, 385 million years ago, had an atmosphere with 10 times the present carbon dioxide levels. Those elevated levels did not produce runaway global warming then, so why should we theorize that it would today?” Pre-conceived agendas and a scorched earth policy of accusing any critics of complicity with Big Oil or the Republican Party impedes the scientific process. Likening people who do not agree with doomsday Anthropogenic Global Warming theories to Holocaust Deniers does not get us closer to the truth. In Science, when did “Skeptic” become such a bad word? An experiment that hints we are wrong on climate change: “The best measurements of global air temperatures come from American weather satellites, and they show wobbles but no overall change since 1999. That leveling off is just what is expected by the chief rival hypothesis, which says that the sun drives climate changes more emphatically than greenhouse gases do. After becoming much more active during the 20th century, the sun now stands at a high but roughly level state of activity. Solar physicists warn of possible global cooling, should the sun revert to the lazier mood it was in during the Little Ice Age 300 years ago. In a box of air in the basement, they were able to show that electrons set free by cosmic rays coming through the ceiling stitched together droplets of sulfuric acid and water. These are the building blocks for cloud condensation. But journal after journal declined to publish their report; the discovery finally appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society late last year.” Open Letter of Resignation to the IPCC from Chris Landsea: “I personally cannot in good faith continue to contribute to a process that I view as both being motivated by pre-conceived agendas and being scientifically unsound.” Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence: “But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.” – MIT Professor Richard Lindzen

Think about why Greenland got its name? When it was initially named, guess what? It was GREEN! It isn't named Whiteland. The vikings left Greenland for greener patures after it turned white.

there as so many stupid dumb comments here from people that cant swallow the scientific fact that global warming IS occurring....well if such a high proportion of the population are that ignorant and proud of it then we as a species deserve to become extinct.....we will make way for bacteria that will be more intelligent than half these people.

Firstly, I personally don't believe in man-made global warming and despite what scientists tell us with their hypothesis, which they so often report as fact, there is no conclusive evidence to support either side of the argument. We simply don't know whats going on and there are so many intricate processes that effect the climate, no doubt many of which we don't even know about yet that I doubt we will be able to predict anything reliably for decades to come. Even if we were altering the climate, so what? The earth has been around for about 4.5 billion years, during which time the climate has been in a constant state of flux and life has flourished probably because of this, not despite it. What makes us so special that these natural processes should suddenly stop and our planets dynamic ecosystems should suddenly become static as many environMENTALISTS seem to want? And if polar bears become extinct, so what? Fossil records show they probably evolved from brown bears as little as 100,000 years ago, during the beginning of the last glacial cycle. This is their first interglacial period and they obviously aren't cut out for the warmer weather - survival of the fittest at work, a purely natural process. Anyway, I digress. There are simply too many humans on this planet for us to exist along with all the other creatures sustainably. We need to be culled. Best thing would be a biological agent - non-discrimnatory and only the fittest survive.