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McCook Gazette
Editorial

Best objective data says we're in for climate change

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Today's 39th annual Earth Day is as much about politics as it was in 1970.

There are those who use the threat of global warming to push unrelated social agendas, just as there are those who dismiss any evidence of climate change as propaganda.

In the end, we need to look beyond politics to find the truth.

That's what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was designed to do.

The IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization and by the United Nations Environment Programme.

The organization conducts no research and takes no measurements, but reviews the best scientific studies as objectively as possible and makes recommendations to member governments.

What does the IPCC say about the issue of climate change?

It says we should be worried.

Especially in Southwest Nebraska, where water is and always has been a point of contention, we have reason to be concerned.

That's because, according to the 2007 IPCC report, middle latitudes are likely to become dryer as temperatures continue to climb, precipitation patterns change and glaciers shrink.

Over the past hundred years, the amount of water stored in mountains has shrunk, the amount of land classified as "dry" has doubled and river flows in higher latitudes and tropics have increased at the expense of the middle latitudes.

Higher temperatures have exacerbated problems like water shortages and water pollution, with food supplies affected as a result.

Population growth is expected to increase the inadequacy of water infrastructure such as flood control, hydro power, irrigation and conservation.

And, the pace of change may increase to the point that we won't have time to adapt.

What should we do? What can be done?

That's for policy makers to decide -- and as the economies of China, India and other more populous countries develop, those policy makers won't be elected by American voters.

Let's hope decision makers enact policies that distribute fairly around the globe the sacrifices needed to deal with the economic disruption resulting from climate change.

To read the complete IPCC report, go online to:

http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tp-climate-change-water.htm

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  • More and more scientists and thinking people all over the world are realizing that man-made global warming is a hoax that threatens our future and the future of our children. More than 700 international scientists dissent over man-made global warming claims. They are now more than 13 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers. http://www.climatechangefraud.com/content/view/3562/218/

    Additionally, 32,000 American scientists have signed onto a petition that states, "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate..." http://www.petitionproject.org/index.html

    "Progressive" (communist) politicians like Obama seem determined to force us to swallow the man-made global warming scam. We need to defend ourselves from the United Nations and these politicians, who threaten our future and the future of our children. Based on a lie, they have already wasted billions and plan to increase taxes and increase the cost of energy, which will limit development, destroy our economy and enslave us.

    If not stopped, the global warming scam will enrich the scammers (Gore and Obama's Wall Street friends), increase the power of the United Nations and communists like Obama, and multiply poverty and servitude for the rest of us.

    -- Posted by AntonioSosa on Thu, Apr 23, 2009, at 9:44 AM

  • Should anyone bother to check the source recommended by antonio I hope they takenote ofhow many ofthese "scientist" have education or experience in relevant fields such as meteorology, climatology, or geophysics. This document if you can legitimately call it such is an smokescreen thrown up by an astroturf outfit known as the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM). They basically bulk mailed anyone with a science degree asking them to sign and apparently got enough to enable them to hoodwink the sufficiently uninformed and add more smoke to the rightwing's strategy of denial, diversion, and deception. For more information on the Oregon institute check here:http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Oregon_Institute_of_Science_and_Medicine

    Any rational person- which category excludes most of the hyperventilating deniers realizes that it's the reality of global warming that constitutes the real threat to our future and that of our children and grandchildren.

    -- Posted by davis_x_machina on Fri, Apr 24, 2009, at 10:56 AM
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