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Laurie David

Laurie David

Posted: March 6, 2009 10:02 AM

Veteran Meteorologist Bravely Calls It Like He Sees It

What's Your Reaction:

How ironic that one of the last of the dying breed of global warming deniers in America is welcomed into our family home every night. They're your local TV weathermen (yes, mostly men) who despite their careful tracking of weather disasters and trends are hell bent on denying that global warming is happening. That's why today I have to take my hat off to veteran meteorologist Bob Ryan at Washington DC's NBC4. On WashingtonPost.com, Ryan speaks honestly and frankly about weather forecasters who can't see the truth about global warming.

Ryan tells the Post:

"We all have political views on what should, or should not be done, but we should be able to keep that separate from what the current scientific research is telling us," Ryan stated. "If we have reached some political conclusion first and then look at science to find weaknesses in some studies or cherry pick some study to support our political view, we shouldn't be representing science, meteorology or climate science."
Don't underestimate how brave this is. There are hundreds of meteorologists on TV and very few ever mention the words global warming. Even the founder of the Weather Channel denies climate change. When the Weather Channel's former climate expert Heidi Cullen expressed views similar to Ryan's, Rush Limbaugh accused her of Stalinism. The Weather Channel has since eliminated that position. CNN's Rob Marciano says that tornadoes will not necessarily get worse because of global warming, a contradiction of highly respected weather models which scientists say prove severe weather fluctuations from climate change will produce wild weather the likes of which will make Dorothy and Toto's plight look like a walk in the park.


So bravo Bob Ryan. And what about your local weathermen? It's worth paying attention. And it can't hurt to let the folks at the American Meteorological Society know how you feel about weathermen trying to masquerade as climate experts who clearly don't know what they're talking about.

Laurie David, NRDC Trustee
NRDC.org

 
 
 
How ironic that one of the last of the dying breed of global warming deniers in America is welcomed into our family home every night. They're your local TV weathermen (yes, mostly men) who despite the...
How ironic that one of the last of the dying breed of global warming deniers in America is welcomed into our family home every night. They're your local TV weathermen (yes, mostly men) who despite the...
 
 
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10:57 AM on 03/09/2009
Here's a fun little test you can all do for your friends.

For the global warming deniers, ask them "just what evidence would you accept that would convince you that man made global warming is real?"

The answer would probably be none, because people believe just whatever it is that they want to believe, and usually whatever answer favors their pocket book or political beliefs.

For the crazed global warming enthusiasts, ask them two questions "why won't Al Gore debate anyone concerning the evidence about global warming", and "what evidence would you accept that global warming is not man made? (for example, changes in solar radiation, or other evidence that CO and CO2 and methane have little effect because the amount of water vapor in the air goes up as the temp goes up)"

The answer is probably none, because people believe just whatever it is that they want to believe, and usually whatever answer favors their pocket book or political beliefs.
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MyTake
Release the Hydrogen Economy now!
04:33 PM on 03/09/2009
I will take your test. I am a climate change denier.

If, in the last 6 decades, had the U.S. and other countries sent space craft and sensor gathing equipment towards the Sun and put them in orbit to guage the impact that the Sun and its surface activity has on the Earth's weather and climate patterns, then I would start to believe that reasonable accurate science could be relied upon. If, over that same time, an array of ocean censors had been deployed to determine the Sun/Ocean science correlation relative to the surface activity on the Sun, then feeding both of those real time data capture's into our wealther computers would tell us a lot more sound data.

Notice how the climate scare mongers never talk about the SUN. Yet the Sun is in a low cycle of zero sun spot activity and we are in a period of global cooling as a result.

As for GORE et al, since neither he nor the UN are calling for the immediate release of THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY to alleviate carbon emissions, you automatically know their campaign is, along with the economic collapse, the second leg to force global governance.
Politisizer
Cute and clever... great combo.
04:55 PM on 03/09/2009
Yeah that pesky global cooling. The last 30 years of global cooling have caused 10% loss of the earth's ice sheets...

Over 1m sq miles of ice gone and now that poorly named 'perma'frost is melting. Whoever named that wants a good telling off - 'perma' suggest permanent to me and that's false advertising!
11:34 PM on 03/09/2009
For starters, here's the one I know best about...

It's called SOHO or Solar & Heliospheric Observatory

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Now as far as the sun is concerned we are at SOLAR MINIMUM right now, if you don't believe me check out Spaceweather.com

http://spaceweather.com/

And look at the image of the Sun on the left hand side.
Today there are NO Sunspots.

If you can get a hold of a copy of the March, 2009 Sky & Telescope, you will see a layman's article about Solar-Earth Connections entitled

"Should we blame the Sun for Global Warming?"

The conclusion is that the Sun can only account for 20% of the warming.

But if you can't locate the March 2009 issue of Sky & Telescope, you can listen to this podcast with Solar Physicist Judith Lean

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/38004069.html
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alvdh1
09:39 AM on 03/10/2009
Here is one the climate change deniers never talk about regarding solar radiation. The galciers, sea ice and notrhern latitude snow cover has been with us for tens of thousands of years all the while surviving solar minimums and maximums. Suddenly, some 300 years ago, we started burning coal in large quantities followed by the oil age.

The oceans recently became saturated with carbonic acid filling this natural co2 sink to the brim. Now the oceans are heating up and melting the ice. The atmosphere is warming due to an increase water vapor which is amplified by co2 due to the warming oceans. The forests, another natural sink for co2, have been ravaged around the world, hence more co2 is staying in the atmosphere while the consumption of oil and coal have risen sharply over the past century due to an exploding population and rising living standards.

The net result is many continental and mountain glaciers are receding. The Arctic sea ice melts faster each year and may disappear altogether during the summer. The net effect is a significantly reduced albedo effect of the planet. A reduced albedo effect from declining snow and ice cover means substantialy less solar radiation is being re-radiated back into space. It doesn't take a GW denier long to understand that a reduced albedo effect accounts for the majority of the solar radiation increase once they get their heads out of their butts.
10:17 AM on 03/09/2009
Is it possible that professional meteorologists know a lot more about this than the general public, or politicians who have a selfish reason to sway the arguments one way or another, and that they think that the evidence for man made global warming is flimsy?
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You
Is you who you thinks you is?
10:37 AM on 03/09/2009
Anything is possible, but that's already been shown not to be true.
10:58 AM on 03/09/2009
It isn't true that they know more than the general public about the weather and its effects?

A curious concept....
10:06 AM on 03/09/2009
I enjoyed this article and the resultant comments expressing views from both sides of the fence. Wether your beliefs lead you to view global warming as a yes/no proposition will matter not when the seas rise and destroy all the coastal communities. When you're taking your last breath of polluted air after starving to death you can declare with conviction:

I was right, or wrong, or in the end, did my view really matter unless I took some action to support it?

Glenn Smith Author of Lotus Petal, A Parable to Help You to Overcome The Fear of Death
http://lotuspetalbook.com
01:19 AM on 03/11/2009
"When you're taking your last breath...."

Congratulations... you receive an "B" on the Al Gore scale of fear-mongering.
09:43 AM on 03/09/2009
I have to wonder why the Huffington Post would have this ad displayed immediately following this article:

Ads by Google
Global Warming Hoax
Find out how scientists, government are fooling the public.
www.douglassreport.com
08:24 AM on 03/10/2009
Google ads are randomly assigned by Google.
09:24 AM on 03/09/2009
For those who still say there is no global warming: Geez, why the hell is the Arctic Ocean's ice melting?
why are so many glaciers disappearing? Why are huge chunks of ice braeking off from Antarctica?
Get a clue, for crissakes, all you who deny what's happening! A solution: alternative evergy! Solar, wind, wave, river current, bio fuels, more public transportation. might be too late, though
09:46 AM on 03/09/2009
Sadly, it's irrational...but you have to try because if you don't then it would be worse.

Now, I don't know how much of an impact can be made but we do have the brainpower why not use it?

Of course, in the doing, we can create a totally new industry and that does mean jobs too.
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Richard2
05:42 PM on 03/10/2009
LDnearthesea,

Thank you for your concerns. The Arctic Ocean's ice melts back every year in the summer, and grows in the winter. If you go to one of the websites that track the sea ice, you will see that this winter, the growth of Arctic Sea Ice was greater than any of the last three years. This doesn't tell us what will happen next year, but the amount of Arctic ice, to reflect the sun's rays back into space, is greater this winter than last. Also, the Antarctic sea ice is currently even stronger, being at a level above an average of recent years. Given the amounts of ice in the Antarctic, ice is always breaking off. In the north Atlantic, do you remember what sank the Titanic years ago? It was drifting sea ice! Glaciers? Some are melting, and some are growing. The earth has stopped warming. The Arctic sea ice is rebounding. The Antarctic's ice is above normal. What is there to deny that is happening right now?
Politisizer
Cute and clever... great combo.
09:22 AM on 03/09/2009
Guys and girls I wouldn't bother...

Global warming is already too far advanced for anything meaningful to be done about it. The kind of changes required to limit the impact of what humans have already done to the climate just aren't going to happen. I would be surprised if anything productive is done within the next 50 years and by that time most of us will be dead and our children will have to deal with the problem. I just hope that generation is a bit smarter than the current one.
09:44 AM on 03/09/2009
So your advice is to do nothing?

What if the National Weather Service issues a Tornado Warning..meaning a Tornado has been sighted and the report shows it is heading towards you...

By your definition, you are going to wait outside and do nothing to save yourself and your family?
Just because you can't stop the Tornado?
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You
Is you who you thinks you is?
10:39 AM on 03/09/2009
If that Tornado has his name on it and he has no other planet to get to, yes.
Politisizer
Cute and clever... great combo.
04:49 PM on 03/09/2009
Ok lets get this sorted out today then - you've convinced me.....

I'll go and tell everyone to stop driving and then tell OPEC to stop pumping the oil....

You go and tell China to stop building a coal fired powerstation a week and then tell Russia to stop pumping natural gas to the whole of Europe....

On a serious note you need to get real. Global warming is happening and that's it. No matter what Obama does, or anyone else for that matter, the temp's on Earth are going to rise 2-5c by 2100 and probably more after that. The only thing up for debate is how many humans the Earth will sustain in the next 1,000 years, if it's even habitable at all.
11:02 AM on 03/09/2009
Agreed.

This boat is way too big and heavy to turn around. The momentum of our present economic system is way too large to change in a timescale anything shorter than several decades.

Why does a poor person in India or China give a flying fig about potential global warming when he or she is trying to feed their family?

It is a big cartel problem. There is no way the "haves" of the world are going to change their ways, and no way the "have-nots" are going to significantly slow down their quest to join the haves.

Anything we can do in this country is a pittance compared to what needs to be done.
11:37 PM on 03/09/2009
Yeah and if we had listened to you we would still be

BRITISH!

Sorry, but that is NOT the American Way!!!!
09:17 AM on 03/09/2009
Nevertheless, we all know global warming is an issue and must be taken seriously. Fred Smilek is the acting president of the Society to Save Endangered Species. It was founded two years ago by Fred Smilek along with his two best friends Charles and Jonathan. http://www.fredjsmilek.com
09:10 AM on 03/09/2009
As others here have posted it is all due to ignorance, but also lack of regulations from our government.

Stricter laws need to be in place in reference to recycling, emissions, the use of non biodegradable products but of course those things cost money which of course comes before global destruction.

Europe is way way ahead of us but I think it's a case of too little too late, despite the trend in 'green' products we are still creating more pollution than can be removed. We are playing God with GM crops which blow into organic fields and there is a trash island twice the size of TEXAS in the Pacific. And a dead zone the size of New Jersey in the Gulf Of Mexico. The consequence will be a very polluted planet in 200 years.

Easy steps would be mandatory recycling for all plus banning styrofoam 'to go' containers in restaurants along with foam cups. Paper is just fine.
09:07 AM on 03/09/2009
One of the problems is that a lot of TV 'meteorologists' were actually communications majors who have no actual knowledge of the weather, so of course they're not going to have a decent, educated opinion
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07:21 AM on 03/09/2009
I lived in Germany for ten freakin' years and the only idiots who would even think to deny the truth are members of the neo-nazi groups sprinkled throughout the country. I found the Germans to be very intelligent and unwilling to allow their political affiliations to drive their intellectual thought patterns. The republican party in America is so corrupt and manipulative that they thrive off the ignorance of their poor and middleclass members, while sustaining themselves off of the illgotten riches of their unpatriotic, overwhelmingly, White racist and elitist leaders.
07:31 AM on 03/09/2009
I think you can chalk it up to something called "Anti-Intellectualism".
Sadly, it rears it's head up in my country from time to time.
Look at the last 8 years for example...
And Democrats aren't immune to it either.
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Pieter Nieuwenhuijs
06:01 AM on 03/09/2009
What I don't understand is the common ignorance in the united states. Global warming or not, to proof something like that is I think a difficult topic, but it becomes even more difficult when it becomes a political issue. But let this discussion rest aside. There is another simple method to look at things. When we look at the use of oil, or other fossil fuels, if we look at the use of all natural resources, then it can be broken down into linear process. It means we take, and we never return anything. Oil for example is created by the earths development over millions of years. We just take it away in a couple of hundred. Nothing will be left. And so we do in all the use of natural recourses. What we do return is the residue of what is left after use. Carbon dioxide, fine dust, phthalates, dioxin. The list is endless. Besides of that does everyone know how much poison a Barbie doll contains? So keep on discussing who is right or wrong. We are wrecking this place, and our kids will pay the bill. I am not a green activist, I am a worried world citizen.
02:50 AM on 03/09/2009
It's about time people realize that global warming is a reality. People are in denial of the condition that they've left our planet; they don't want to admit that their actions have immanent and future consequences. These weatherman have to wake up.
12:14 AM on 03/09/2009
Bob Ryan is well know and respected in the Washington, DC area. What stuns me about this article is that a weatherman affirming what is known to be true is an act of courage.

Are the forces arrayed against the truth of the science that supports this phenomenon so great, do our partisan perspectives make it so easy for corporate America to manipulate us, to go after us an persecute us, that it is actually an act of courage for a respected and knowledgeable weatherman to publicly acknowledge what the scientific evidence proves to be true beyond reasonable dispute?

Apparently, yes. Perhaps we should become extinct, if we are truly this foolish.
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JohnSawyer
arglebargy
02:00 AM on 03/09/2009
Obviously not everyone's that foolish, since not everyone denies global warming is taking place.
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dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
12:08 AM on 03/09/2009
Why are tv meteorologists talking about long-term global climate one way or another, when their job it to tell the viewers about today's local weather?
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Deli
Life after death, why wait?
12:31 AM on 03/09/2009
And they can't even get that right.
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Solja
01:41 AM on 03/09/2009
Because they have an opinion, and in the case of Bob Ryan, he's tired of the politics smothering the issues of weather as it relates to climate change. I grew up listening to Bob Ryan's weather reports, and he never gets involved in any issues outside of the weather. He writes a weather almanac every year for charity, so he's very much respected in the field. If Bob Ryan is speaking up on this, then there is a huge problem. This is like the shy kid in the 3rd grade class suddenly running to the middle of the floor, standing on a desk with a pencil for a microphone singing, "You are the Wind Beneath my Wings". lol
09:03 PM on 03/08/2009
I must say that the more that I read lately the more scientists there are who are at least starting to question the standard belief of global warming. More and more of the views held by respected scientists are that we may be experiencing a cold period in the next few decades. I wonder how long before these politically incorrect but still scientifically proven trends of colder temperatures will make everyone start to rethink their previous positions. I wouldnt take my hat off to anyone just yet you might get frostbite.
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armadillo
Gee, I miss Ann Richards.
10:01 PM on 03/08/2009
OMG. Please help us all.

Name those scientist please. While your at it list their education info and affiliations if possible. Getting a degree in science at Bob Jones or Liberty Univ. and then calling yourself a scientist is like the lawyers the shrub hired from Liberty Univ. You see where that got us.

Most of these experts are bonofide quacks. Those that repeat their non sense are quackers.
11:41 PM on 03/08/2009
You are not reading very carefully. Start with the Stern Review, which is an analysis of the meta-data concerning global warming. It is non-partisan. They conclude that the phenomenon is real and dealing with it is urgent. Then consider who gains and who loses if we implement their recommendations. Could it be the immensely powerful and rich fossil fuel industries? Do you think they might have the resources and the enough dedication to profit-making to be capable of manipulating people by politicizing the data and using people's partisan prejudices to argue against the overwhelming body of evidence? Hmmm?
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afgail
Wise and strong.
12:45 AM on 03/09/2009
What we are witnessing is the same depravity of the climate change deniers in meteorology that we saw in the titans of Wall Street who knowingly bundled bad loans as financial instruments. Some people are just no good.