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Sen. Robert Menendez

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A Letter to Santa Claus

Posted: 12/23/10 11:00 AM ET

December 23, 2010

Dear Santa Claus,

I am writing out of concern, because you may have to move from the North Pole due to the dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice. The Navy's chief oceanographer says that by the summer of 2020 the North Pole may not have summer ice and other scientists project that an ice-free Arctic is possible as soon as 2012!

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that polar ice is melting because of greenhouse gas pollution and I am working hard to reduce these emissions. But there is probably nothing we can do in time to save the North Pole. I am worried about your safety and your ability to deliver billions of Christmas gifts if the ice cap on the North Pole no longer stays frozen all year. What will happen to your house, your workshop, the elves' houses and your reindeer barns?

I want you to know that if you want to relocate to the beautiful state of New Jersey, I would be proud to assist you. But given the climate you are accustomed to, I will understand if you would like to relocate to the South Pole. Just be sure not to move to the Antarctic Peninsula or West Antarctic ice sheet, areas that are also experiencing rapid ice melt.

Please know that I will work to mobilize the U.S. federal government to assist when you relocate. I am sure we can both agree that on a warming planet, we need to do all we can to save Christmas.

Sincerely,
Robert Menendez
U.S. Senator

 

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December 23, 2010 Dear Santa Claus, I am writing out of concern, because you may have to move from the North Pole due to the dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice. The Navy's chief oceanographer...
December 23, 2010 Dear Santa Claus, I am writing out of concern, because you may have to move from the North Pole due to the dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice. The Navy's chief oceanographer...
 
 
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11:44 AM on 12/29/2010
It's only appropriate that Santa Claus and Global Warming be used in the same context.
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ClimateHawk
Think before posting.
09:31 PM on 12/28/2010
Do you want to see what the Arctic looked like every September for the past 30 years?

http://nsidc.org/images/arcticseaicenews/20101004_Figure7.mov

The purple line is the median for the period 1979 - 2000.

For more info: http://nsidc.org/news/press/20101004_minimumpr.html

If the Arctic sea ice is a canary in the coal mine, it's singing to us.
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ClimateHawk
Think before posting.
01:07 AM on 12/29/2010
No actually, the canary stops singing when there is trouble.

The canary analogy (correctly applied) is pretty good in this case -- instead of a loud warning we have to notice the canary has stopped singing.

I promise to work on the canary analogy. Sorry for the confusion.
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04:26 PM on 12/29/2010
If these photos were taken at teh same time of year you would see there is no change. In fact, in February 2009 it was discovered that scientists had previously been underestimating the re-growth of Arctic sea ice by an area larger than the state of California (twice as large as New Zealand). The errors were attributed to faulty sensors on the ice.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/12/23/media-climate-change-warming-opinions-contributors-larry-bell_2.html
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ClimateHawk
Think before posting.
05:43 PM on 12/29/2010
Ponderous, the photos I linked to are from space.

The article you link to claims there was a problem with sensors on the ice -- wouldn't you think the photos from space are unrelated to sensors on the ice?

Do you know who made the "discovery" in February 2009? Your link states an important discovery was made but does not say who made the discovery.
02:23 PM on 12/28/2010
Menendez, rather than waste government money to relocate Santa because of the global warming hoax, why don't you use the money to protect our borders from illegal aliens. Better yet, send the illegals to the North Pole to help Santa.
07:53 PM on 12/26/2010
Thanks Mr. Menendez. As a New Jerseyan, I am proud that you are representing us in the Senate. I hope you continue to stand up and fight for climate change and clean energy legislation. Our future depends on it!
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04:26 PM on 12/29/2010
And faries and pixies and Santa and unicorns! I love myths too!
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dragonmaster
04:12 PM on 12/26/2010
There may be no ice in the arctic in a few years come late summer-- I wonder how more erratic OUR weather will become then?
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dragonmaster
01:03 PM on 12/27/2010
Far more erratic then now- The 'Storms of Our Grandchildren' are just beginning.
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FIGI
02:28 PM on 12/28/2010
Maybe "erratic" will become "typical". Since the snow storms on the East Coast were ultimately caused by the decreased Arctic ice, and since the ice will be melting even further next year and the year after, expect these storms to come every year. Santa could move to NYC and feel perfectly at home.
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04:27 PM on 12/29/2010
Uh huh. Sure - warming causes cooling. Doesn't that mean cooling means warming? Why do you persist in explaining a lie? Now who was it who said the bigger the lie the more people believe it? You're living a fantasy?
12:34 PM on 12/26/2010
I remember being told that in 2 years all the Solomon Islands and such would be underwater. That was about 8 years ago. Poor sinking Tuvalu has been sinking for hundreds of years so technically the water level is rising relative to its sinking. Its sinking was reported as early as the 1830s by Darwin among others. Hysterics who won't face real problems invent artificial ones they can solve by symbolic gestures that calm their nerves. This is mass hysteria pure and simple. I own no stock btw and my landlord is a churchmouse.
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StephenBP
What's he building in there?
11:52 AM on 12/27/2010
Someone (uncited) told you that all the Solomon Islands and such (uncited) would be underwater ( no time frame cited).

Now with scientific facts like that in hand, how can your opinion possibly not be correct?

Interesting thing about name callers. They often paint their own inner faults on others. "Hysterics who won't face real problems."......gee I wonder who that could apply to? That wouldn't be a good description for fossil fuel supporters who are afraid of changing to other technologies for energy, would it? Or people who are afraid to face the enormity of the bag of hurt that their world is about to be in from climate induced agricultural failures? Or people who suspect that their whole ideology will unravel once someone pulls out a hitherto fore trusted thread which turns out to be bogus?

Just saying...

Have a great day!
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04:29 PM on 12/29/2010
Or people who can't face the truth that there is no proof the Earth is warming. The hysteria all from the side of warm-mongerers such as yourself who live a in a religiously based dreamland where facts are ignored and society is reengineeered to fit a fantasy. YOU are the one believing a lie. But your myth is unraveling all around you.
09:12 AM on 12/26/2010
The artic ice is increasing. Woops. See "Artic Ice Increase Dismays Global Warming Believers" http://www.dakotavoice.com/2010/04/arctic-ice-increase-dismays-global-warming-believers/
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10:07 AM on 12/26/2010
Well, if the DakotaVoice says it, it HAS to be true. The vast majority of the world's scientific findings are published in that peer-reviewed journal if I'm not mistaken.

"Woops" it turns out I 'm mistaken.
05:34 PM on 12/27/2010
you're mistaken
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StephenBP
What's he building in there?
12:09 PM on 12/26/2010
Yeah. It is. It is called winter. The ice area is increasing. However, the ice volume is decreasing each year. Area. Volume. Area. Volume. Two dimensions. Three dimensions. Two dimensions. Three dimensions.

Pop quiz . Which has more volume, a million square miles of ice an inch thick, or hundred thousand square miles of ice, a foot thick?

If you can't get the correct answer within a minute or so, many you shouldn't be posting things that fly in the face of the chief US Navy oceanographer,unless you really, really want to look slow?

I mean, really, do you think you are smarter than that guy? Isn't that awfully arrogant of you if you are not a card carrying "arrogant liberal"??

Just saying.......
02:52 AM on 12/25/2010
Anytime you want to see the stupid show up, just say the words "Climate Change" and here they all come. These are always people who are smart @$$e$ who have never read a scientific journal on the topic, have never visited NOAA or NASA to look at their information on REAL Climate Science. They can only manage to remember the name, Al Gore even though he has been 100% right about all the scientific information he presented in "An Inconvenient Truth". They have NO idea what the "Keeling Curve" is or what it indicates. In short they are totally clueless when it comes to Science. AND... they keep getting dumber, as if that were even possible.
BlackbirdHighway
Brawndo's got electrolites!
12:47 PM on 12/26/2010
They don't want to go to NOAA or NASA because they present facts, and as Colbert famously stated, facts have a liberal bias. They would rather stick with sites that they can count on to reinforce their established conservative views, regardless of the facts.
04:52 PM on 12/26/2010
Yes go to the NOAA web site - look at how they deny the MWP. Yes go to the NASA website - look at all the studies of the tree ring proxies. Notice how they numerous tree ring proxies from the 7th and 10th centuries. Ask how they were able to date a specimen to the 7th and 10th century. Ask how they even found a specimen intact enough to reconstruct the temp rom the 7th and 10th century. Ask how they concluded the MWP was cooler in central asia even though fruit trees were growing 300 miles north of their natural range. 3-5 degree error in the opposite direction.

Yes the science is settled. not
01:30 PM on 12/24/2010
Dear Santa,
Would you send me the same crystal ball that the navy's "chief" oceanographer has? I want to know if I will have a job in six months.
Thanks.
02:53 AM on 12/25/2010
Santa says NO.
11:40 AM on 12/24/2010
Dear Santa,
Capitalism is killing the planet. We must end the greed it to insure that we have a planet to live on in the near future!
MGhamma
Reality is 100% biased!
11:12 PM on 12/24/2010
F&F Dave .

My sentiments exactly.
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fiddler3
physicist, musician, parent
10:42 PM on 12/23/2010
Is this a firm prediction? Do we believe with high certainty that the North Pole will be ice free at some point before the Autumn of 2020? If the Arctic does not become ice free by that date, so we then concede the AGW models are wrong?

Similarly, do the skeptics agree that this is a proper test, and agree that if the North Pole does become ice free before Autumn 2020, that the AGW models are indeed correct?

I would be really great to have a firm prediction from each side to compare. This is typically how science gets to decide between alternative theories. Counting fans and dollars is a poor way to decide science questions.
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Richard2
08:17 PM on 12/24/2010
Former Vice President Al Gore predicted this event would occur in 2012 or 2013. Why in the world are you moving the goal posts back to 2020? In a week we will be into 2011, and we can start the countdown!

Why don't we put Al Gore on one side of this "test" and all the climate realists on the other? Al Gore's statement was stated in press articles at the time he made his statement.
02:55 AM on 12/25/2010
It's already happening. There is a dome of High Pressure sitting on top of the Arctic right now that has been created by the warm ocean water. This dome of High Pressure is pushing all the really cold air Southward toward Europe, Asia and the Eastern United States. It's currently warmer in Greenland and the Arctic than it is here.
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Style Doggie 3
10:04 PM on 12/23/2010
Dear Santa,

We're sending Michael Mann up to prove that you exist. Please cooperate, we plan to form the Intergovernmental Panel on Santa Clause (IPSC) to raise money to study the problems you are facing. We'll find a way to blame them all on the wealthy nations, and through corrupt science and a fawning cooperative media, we'll advance our agenda.
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06:02 PM on 12/23/2010
The GOP don't seem to care that polar bears may be threatened through loss of habitat. Do you really think they care that santa will lose his fictional home.
11:02 AM on 12/24/2010
It's not that we don't care. It's that we can't control it. We're literally at the mercy of the sun...just like every other planet that heat and cools at the same rate as the earth.
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Daniel Hicks
Science > Your opinion
01:18 AM on 12/27/2010
How do you mean 'we can't control it?' If you mean that this is an entirely natural phenomenon, and so is out of our hands, please refer me to ANY scientific data showing that change this rapid has ever occurred without a precipitating massive disaster (asteroid impact, supervolcano, etc.) If you mean 'we are a lazy, procrastinating species with shortsighted agendas,' then I would hope you were wrong, but find it on the whole hard to disagree. Even the Bible affirms the inherently sinful nature of man, who will work toward material gain without regard to his (much more important) eternal fate. How does that not jive with environmentalism? We have 'dominion over the Earth.' Why does that mean we've got to screw it up?
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