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‘Get Over It’: Climate Change Is Happening


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What is anyone to make of American public figures who even in 2012 dismiss the risks posed by manmade climate change?

After a week of record heat and wildfires, Terry Moran of ABC News posed a question to guests on July 8, on the Sunday political talk show, “This Week With George Stephanopoulos”: Why should climate change be any more controversial than, say, neuroscience or brain surgery? Mort Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, answered that climate change has much broader applicability than brain surgery and therefore draws a greater crowd of critics. E.J. Dionne, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, expressed incredulity about “why my conservative friends are so resistant in taking out an insurance policy… Because if we go wrong on this, we’re making an awfully big mistake.”

Political commentator George Will answered thusly: “You asked us -- how do we explain the heat? One word: summer. I grew up in central Illinois in a house without air conditioning. What is so unusual about this? Now, come the winter, there will be a cold snap, lots of snow, and the same guys, like E.J., will start lecturing us. There's a difference between the weather and the climate. I agree with that. We're having some hot weather. Get over it.”

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As usual, Mr. Will leaves little room for argument.

Little different than last year. Summer. Hot, no rain, brown grass. Happens just about every year.

Winter, no snow at all this year. Temperate save a really cold week or so. But that's winter, too.

We had sighnificant smnow in October. Although unusual, not unheard of.

Global warming?

Pooh. It's just the climate around here.

Getting over it would be much better than having the government prohibit the sale of 100W incandesent light bulbs... :cry::td:

Edited by MID
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Its hard to get over it when it effects the price of food. Just wait until this fall when prices start going up. This summer has been dry and hot, my pastures are brown, I have to feed my horses hay when they usually have plenty of green grass to eat. I've heard the drought is going on in 26 states, not just two or three and peoples wells are going dry.

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Its hard to get over it when it effects the price of food. Just wait until this fall when prices start going up. This summer has been dry and hot, my pastures are brown, I have to feed my horses hay when they usually have plenty of green grass to eat. I've heard the drought is going on in 26 states, not just two or three and peoples wells are going dry.

Which is precisely what happens in the summertime, someplace, every year.

Next thing one knows, 8 inches of rain falls in October.

...And people will complain about the flooding, of course... :yes: It comes, it goes, and we all have to live with it. That means farmers, retailers, and consumers alike.

Prices go up, and drop, all in response to some weather babe (i.e., TV" meteorologist") saying the word draught because no rain has fallen in several weeks.

I've been in Dallas during several dry summers, when no rain fell for several months, and the Trinity River was a dust path , and yet, they watered the grass every single night, snd never mentioned the word drought---despite the fact that the fields were dry with half inch cracks in the dusty soil.

I think someone told me, "Well, it's summer."

Yea, I think that was correct.

Edited by MID
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As usual, Mr. Will leaves little room for argument.

Little different than last year. Summer. Hot, no rain, brown grass. Happens just about every year.

Winter, no snow at all this year. Temperate save a really cold week or so. But that's winter, too.

We had sighnificant smnow in October. Although unusual, not unheard of.

Global warming?

Pooh. It's just the climate around here.

Getting over it would be much better than having the government prohibit the sale of 100W incandesent light bulbs... :cry::td:

One year's data is just weather. Maybe hot, maybe cold, but not enough to warrant jumping to conclusions.

But the spate of "wild weather" started in May 2008. That was four years ago. That's still not enough data to warrant jumping to conclusions, but it's a lot better than one year's data.

Oklahoma (and Dallas, too) are in one of the drought periods that characterize climate in this part of the world. We started into this drought in 2001. It will probably max out in 2013 or 2015, based on drought cycles since 1650. But 2008 and 2009 produced some of the wettest weather on record - right in the middle of the current "drought." A similar aberration occurred in 1897 and 1898 in the middle of the "Gay 90s Drought," but that wasn't nearly as severe as the current one. So what's happening? Something has changed. There are more small storms which may be dropping more water. Temperatures are 0.35 degrees F. warmer in this area than in 1965. Today is the 12th consecutive day of 100+ temps this year. A year ago, July 24 was the 31st day of 100+ temps. This should be the off year; temps should be lower this summer than last and they are a little lower - just not as low as expected. So while things are somewhat like other droughts, there are a lot of differences - and those differences are consistent with an atmosphere that contains more energy.

These drought "cycles" are periodic. This one will end in 2015; the next one will occur in the 2040s. At the current rate of temperature rise, we will be about half a degree Farenheit warmer by then. And that means the relative humidity will be lower and the air dryer and the drought worse. Get used to it; the climate has already changed measurably and there is more coming.

Doug

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As Doug said, north central TX has been in a drought since 2001. Hell, a big chunk of the US is in a drought. Whatever the cause, this is certainly not "just summer". Personally it boggles my mind that anyone could think all the crap we spew out as a species does nothing to the environment and atmosphere of our planet. I remember learning about the concept of the ecosystem pretty early on, but I went to a good school.

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Getting over it would be much better than having the government prohibit the sale of 100W incandesent light bulbs..

end result is same; you end up being dragged over it

can't have things both ways? - back in the 80's you were called a tree hugging hippy for talking about this.. different story these days, and we're all being dragged through it.. like you've noticed about the 100w lightbulbs..

i wonder what kind of response someone like MID would get from gov.org if he sent them a letter, asking them to get over it?

see a connection here? - power outage (on your end) being downsized, NYC apartments scheduled to get smaller like prison cells, food being messed with by GM, water fluoridated, hoo boy! now what about this supposed global financial crisis!! [etc] ....little by little you're being squeezed out of the equation..

we're being led down a path... there is not much you can do about it if you plan to just sit on your ass and watch it all happen, so..... just get over it.

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NYC apartments scheduled to get smaller like prison cells

Just throwing this out there - there is quite a movement of people who want smaller living spaces. I'm among them. I do not want / need a lot of stuff or space and I'd rather live in an apartment 1/2 the size of my current one for 1/2 the rent.

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As Doug said, north central TX has been in a drought since 2001.

I don't know where you live, but Austin, Texas is experiencing extraordinary amounts of rainfall...

http://www.weather.c...onthly/USTX0057

Month to Date 5.51 in.

Average 1.88 in.

Last Friday I drove from Los Angeles to Austin. I was amazed at how lush and green all the vegetation was compared to what I normally see.

I need to get out there right now and mow my yard. All my plants, trees, vegetables, grass, and shrubs are growing like crazy.

Edited by Charlie Prime
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I don't know where you live, but Austin, Texas is experiencing extraordinary amounts of rainfall...

Try Dallas to OKC and vicinity.

Back in 2008 and 2009 we got deluged, but that still didn't break the drought.

Doug

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The saying "Get it while you can" mean anything to anyone?

I was bornied !and Raised in the great State of Texas . And in the 50`s I can remember Hot so hot you could cook your dinner on the pavement.

Now Its so Hot that everyone eats out ! maybe they all got tired of dirt and hub caps in the smashed taters?

Well one thing I know for certin ! We all need to Live like tomorrow is another day worth living for !

Without a challenge it makes for a boreing kinda life. Anyone for a better water system? Energy system? social system? These would be nice to work on right?

ITs hot get with it ! You should see what I work in every day! Yeah I complain,b****,ect! But I Keep-on-Keepin On !

Its the Way we do it In Texas ! Some like it hotter !

Now as for the Ice caps melitin ! Better not live on the coast anywhere ! Seriously !

:tu:

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Its hard to get over it when it effects the price of food. Just wait until this fall when prices start going up. This summer has been dry and hot, my pastures are brown, I have to feed my horses hay when they usually have plenty of green grass to eat. I've heard the drought is going on in 26 states, not just two or three and peoples wells are going dry.

This same thing happened in the 1930's. North America suffered from a drought much worse than the current drought. Guess what, eventually it rained.

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Its hard to get over it when it effects the price of food. Just wait until this fall when prices start going up. This summer has been dry and hot, my pastures are brown, I have to feed my horses hay when they usually have plenty of green grass to eat. I've heard the drought is going on in 26 states, not just two or three and peoples wells are going dry.

I have been stocking up on food for two years now. Solar max is 2013. I look for another summer of this, maybe two.

Just stock up on vitamins, if you stock up on nothing else.

Food prices are related also to the devaluation of the dollar.

I live in drought regions and my yard has been seriously affected. I anticipated this heat, and didn't plant as much non-food items this year. I let the grass burn, since I do not live under some atrocious covenent. I have not spent money mowing, just let the grass grow to shade the soil. '

My thinking is that there may well be Fukishima radiation in the rain, so this drought may have hidden blessings,

Edited by regeneratia
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i wonder what kind of response someone like MID would get from gov.org if he sent them a letter, asking them to get over it?

He'd get no response at all. Besides, irf MID sent an e-mail to the government, it wouldn't be to tell them to get over the climate.

It would be to tell them to get over themselves.

What they understand about climate came from Al Gore... :td::cry:

:yes:

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The saying "Ge

Well one thing I know for certin ! We all need to Live like tomorrow is another day worth living for !

:tu:

Good advice, D!

:tu:

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It actually is amazing just how often you find people making excuses to find doom and gloom, and make a simple thing seem like a crisis...

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This same thing happened in the 1930's. North America suffered from a drought much worse than the current drought. Guess what, eventually it rained.

There have been nine drought cycles in the central US since 1650. Droughts are part of our climate, something we live with. The worst drought in the tree ring record occurred in the 1670s. Four consecutive years with a near-total lack of rainfall. Along the Cimarron River, the sand dunes became active again. Around here, trees died and the unprotected soil washed into the bottom lands, filling stream channels and rerouting streams. Rocky canyons were filled and became meandering sluggish backwaters.

The worst drought of the 20th century, from the rainfall perspective was the 1950s drought which climaxed in 1956. The Dust Bowl was dry, but it its effects were mostly man-made - favorable economics during the 1920s encouraged farmers to break out land that shouldn't have been ploughed. When drought destroyed farmers crops, the government sat on its collective keisters, hoping that a free market would bring rain. Sound crazy? The Republicans still think that way - actually, its just the wingnuts, but sane, responsible conservatives are an endangered species.

Anyway, we had droughts during the Civil War, the Gay Nineties, the Dust Bowl, the 1950s, the late 1970s and now in 2001 to present. Droughts aren't anything new around here. But they are getting gradually worse. This one is already the longest-duration drought in the record and we haven't reached the maximum point yet.

Doug

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The worst drought of the 20th century, from the rainfall perspective was the 1950s drought which climaxed in 1956. The Dust Bowl was dry, but it its effects were mostly man-made - favorable economics during the 1920s encouraged farmers to break out land that shouldn't have been ploughed. When drought destroyed farmers crops, the government sat on its collective keisters, hoping that a free market would bring rain. Sound crazy?

The Republicans still think that way - actually, its just the wingnuts, but sane, responsible conservatives are an endangered species.

I guess we know who we're talking to here!

:no:

When "Republican" equates to "Conservative", I'll let you know

So far. no joy.

.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The worst drought of the 20th century, from the rainfall perspective was the 1950s drought which climaxed in 1956. The Dust Bowl was dry, but it its effects were mostly man-made - favorable economics during the 1920s encouraged farmers to break out land that shouldn't have been ploughed. When drought destroyed farmers crops, the government sat on its collective keisters, hoping that a free market would bring rain. Sound crazy? The Republicans still think that way - actually, its just the wingnuts, but sane, responsible conservatives are an endangered species.

I wonder what the government is expected to do when a drought hits farmers in the midwest, where droughts are nearly annual events?

Saying that the government sat on its collective kiesters and hoped the free market would bring rain is as crazy as the Democrats saying that Romney was responsible for the death of a woman because her husband lost his job due to Romney closing a plant, and the husband losing his health benefits. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer weeks after, and died a short time later..all because of Romney.

Both statements are not only ridiculous and false on all count, but their dispicably inept, and weak in a degree that bears no further discussion.

:no::cry::td:

An idiot contention

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I wonder what the government is expected to do when a drought hits farmers in the midwest, where droughts are nearly annual events?

Saying that the government sat on its collective kiesters and hoped the free market would bring rain is as crazy as the Democrats saying that Romney was responsible for the death of a woman because her husband lost his job due to Romney closing a plant, and the husband losing his health benefits. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer weeks after, and died a short time later..all because of Romney.

Both statements are not only ridiculous and false on all count, but their dispicably inept, and weak in a degree that bears no further discussion.

:no::cry::td:

An idiot contention

The point is that the Republicans and Conservatives have vedtoed effective action on climate change in the face of the overwhelming evidence - for ideological reasons.

Br Cornelius

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When "Republican" equates to "Conservative", I'll let you know

So far. no joy.

There may be a couple good Republicans left in Congress, but the "Tea Party" is rapidly driving them out, or making sure they don't get re-elected.. Ideological purity. Maybe it'll work, and then again, ...

Doug

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I wonder what the government is expected to do when a drought hits farmers in the midwest, where droughts are nearly annual events?

Ever hear of crop insurance? It's a government-run program and the only thing keeping some farms afloat.

What the government finally did after the Dust Bowl when it was apparent that the free market couldn't fix the problems was to create the Soil Erosion Service, renamed the Soil Conservation Service and now the Farm Service Agency. It appropriated three million dollars to a program to stabilize the Great Plains by improved agricultural methods and planting a windbreak to run from Canada to Mexico. A portion of that windbreak actually got planted and is now the Nebraska National Forest, one of the smallest National Forests (Chataqua NF is smaller.).

On the day that Congress was holding hearings on whether to establish SES/SCS, a giant dust storm blew into town. The guy who was presenting the case for the new agency opened the window and simply pointed outside to the reason it was needed. The bill passed.

Saying that the government sat on its collective kiesters and hoped the free market would bring rain is as crazy as the Democrats saying that Romney was responsible for the death of a woman because her husband lost his job due to Romney closing a plant, and the husband losing his health benefits. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer weeks after, and died a short time later..all because of Romney.

Both statements are not only ridiculous and false on all count, but their dispicably inept, and weak in a degree that bears no further discussion.

:no::cry::td:

An idiot contention

I don't have the facts on that story about Romney and the woman's death, but lack of health insurance is correlated with early death in the US. Lack of health insurance does kill.

What the government can do about heading off a drought is to adopt tillage practices that sequester carbon in the soil. It is already encouraging the use of native grasses and shrubs on Conservation Reserve land. The Farm Bill comes up for renewal every five years. Next time, cost-share and other agricultural benefits could be made contingent on the application of these practices. Seven years from right now, we could be applying these to the land. The legal and financial machinery for this already exists.

What the government can do is to allow home owners who cannot obtain water at their homes to walk away from their mortgages. They just hand the keys to the bank and that's it - no bad credit reports, no attempts at collection. It's over with. Of course, they would lose their equity, but everything has a cost. Once the banks understand that they will have to cover the losses from their bad decisions, they will quit writing 30-year mortgages in areas that will be out of water in 20 years (Colorado Front Range).

What Federal, state and local governments can do is conserve water by replacing obsolete and decaying infrastructure, like water mains and storm water drains. My city loses 30% of its processed water through broken and leaking pipes. After 25 years of dithering, they finally floated a tax referendum to pay for repairs and replacement of a system they knew was inadequate when they built it.

What the Federal government could do is develop some of our native plants into agricultural crops. The imported plums are thirsty trees, requiring lots of water. Our native plums are edible, sweet and very small, but they can live here without irrigation. The Crop Service needs to breed or engineer a plum with a fleshier fruit. Same thing applies to the Desert Apricot in the Four Corners Area and the Service berry in north Idaho. There's a tomatoe that lives in Central America that is salt tolerant. But it has a small fruit. If its salt-tolerant gene could be introduced to a bigger, better-tasting tomatoe, like the Beef-Steak Tomatoe, we could grow them on salty desert soils.

If we suffer the consequences of serious drought, it's our own fault.

The idiot contention is that we shouldn't do anything to help ourselves.

Doug

Edited by Doug1029
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The point is that the Republicans and Conservatives have vedtoed effective action on climate change in the face of the overwhelming evidence - for ideological reasons.

Br Cornelius

Isn't it also amazing how common sense, and a genuine concern for the economic success of America is so often, by a certain non-conservative faction, spoken of as being ideological, rather than what it is:

Common Sense, and a path to the America we once had.

It's also amazing that real scientists haven't seen this overwhelming evidence, and indeed consider it underwhelming in the majority.

And there we are again, reciting the party line--that somehow, we humans are capable of somehow affecting this amazing planet, and its climate, and of course, can combat the "climate change" that we caused(!), (You know, climate change..that natural Earth process that cycles around in huge segments of time(thousands of generations pass before one cycle completes) , driven by a star that's fairly close by and which represents unimaginable power?).

As ludicrous as the idea is, still, it's pop, man! Al Gore can shriek, and a whole bunch of folks buy into this moronic crap.

If you like them, go buy some of those Compact Flourescent Lamps and stockpile them for when reason prevails and an industry isn't totally dismantled by 2014 because common sense will prevail and enforce the repeal of the 100W incandescent bulb ban.

Personally, I have a bunch of incandescent bulbs around, Supports the manufacturers while I can, and leaves me with a much less expensive light source than one of Al's curly, expensive models... :w00t:

:-*

Edited by MID
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Climate change has always been happening - duh. It's the human contribution that is the question :D

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Isn't it also amazing how common sense, and a genuine concern for the economic success of America is so often, by a certain non-conservative faction, spoken of as being ideological, rather than what it is:

Common Sense, and a path to the America we once had.

It's also amazing that real scientists haven't seen this overwhelming evidence, and indeed consider it underwhelming in the majority.

And there we are again, reciting the party line--that somehow, we humans are capable of somehow affecting this amazing planet, and its climate, and of course, can combat the "climate change" that we caused(!), (You know, climate change..that natural Earth process that cycles around in huge segments of time(thousands of generations pass before one cycle completes) , driven by a star that's fairly close by and which represents unimaginable power?).

As ludicrous as the idea is, still, it's pop, man! Al Gore can shriek, and a whole bunch of folks buy into this moronic crap.

If you like them, go buy some of those Compact Flourescent Lamps and stockpile them for when reason prevails and an industry isn't totally dismantled by 2014 because common sense will prevail and enforce the repeal of the 100W incandescent bulb ban.

Personally, I have a bunch of incandescent bulbs around, Supports the manufacturers while I can, and leaves me with a much less expensive light source than one of Al's curly, expensive models... :w00t:

:-*

Same old BS from a conservative - why am I surprised at this stage. You are living proof that the Conservatives are Luddites :tu:

Br Cornelius

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