It's official! The US Gov't says it IS getting hot out there!

I know, I know, there are those out there who are still beating the conspiracy drum, saying that "Climate Change" and/or "Global Warming" are colossal hoaxes foisted upon civilization. Even many of the big wigs in Washington are repeating that echo, often quoting sources that are from think tanks heavily financed by ExxonMobil for the sole purpose of refuting scientific research findings supporting the reality of climate change.

Welllll, lookie lookie lookie here... The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) came out with a report today (19 June 2008), entitled "Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate - Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 3.3". Let me quote a Bloomberg news report on the paper:

Today's report didn't specifically mention the Iowa floods. (Thomas Karl, co-chairman of the report), when asked about Iowa, said, "Those types of events will increase in frequency as time goes on and global temperatures increase.''

The climate program was created by President George W. Bush in 2002 to integrate research from federal agencies, including the Energy Department and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration. Last month, the agency reported that burning fossil fuels in power plants and automobiles is most likely responsible for global warming, endorsing an opinion accepted by many of the world's scientists.

"Human-induced warming is known to affect climate variables such as temperature and precipitation,'' according to the report. "Within a changing climate system, some of what are now considered to be extreme events will occur more frequently.''

Carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning coal, oil, and natural gas, contributed most to global warming in the last century, the climate program said. Greenhouse gases cause the atmosphere to hold more water vapor, leading to heavy downpours, and sea surface temperatures to rise, which produces stronger hurricanes.

A strange change from the often edited reports from this administration, almost always stating that if there was any climate change, then it was purely cyclical and non-athropogenic (that is, not caused by man). I can't help but wonder why the sudden change in direction by the Bush administration right now. Perhaps Dubya wants to leave office with a clear conscience?

Or for that matter, a conscience of any kind?

Before you start sending me hate mail, please take a look at Coby Beck's excellent resource "How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic". It will deflate a few common myths like, the Medieval Warm Period was just as hot as it was today, so warm in fact that Vineland was full of grapes (nope, they were berries!), that it is a globalist conspiracy, or that in the 1970's, the big to-do was "Global Cooling".

And by the way, the claim that England used to be a major producer of wine? Guess what? It still is! (Or at least, it was until climate change ruined it.)