Cosmic rays

Posted by Page on April 4th, 2008

If one were to reach into the grab bag of global warming skeptics’ favorite theories, one might pull out any number of speculation-laden papers and editorials regarding the supposed effect of solar activity on the Earth’s climate. For example, here’s an excerpt from an October 2007 presentation given by a member of the Exxon-funded Heartland Institute:

How long will the global warming alarmists be able to sustain the public hysteria without strongly rising temperatures? This will be a key factor in the short-term future of climate warming legislation.

Henrik Svensmark of the Danish Space Research Institute says cosmic rays are the link between the sun’s variability and Earth’s temperatures. More or fewer cosmic rays, depending on the strength of the “solar wind,” seed more or fewer of the low, wet clouds that cool the Earth. Further experiments to document this impact are planned in Europe.

The research to which the presentation refers is described in this paper by Svensmark, which, oddly, does not mention climate change, although the (non-peer-reviewed) press release for his research does:

The experimental results lend strong empirical support to the theory proposed a decade ago by Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen that cosmic rays influence Earth’s climate through their effect on cloud formation.

[…]

‘Many climate scientists have considered the linkages from cosmic rays to clouds to climate as unproven,’ comments Eigil Friis-Christensen, who is now Director of the Danish National Space Center. ‘Some said there was no conceivable way in which cosmic rays could influence cloud cover. The [current research] now shows how they do so, and should help to put the cosmic-ray connection firmly onto the agenda of international climate research.’

(Click here for the Real Climate discussion of Svensmark’s et al.’s claims.)

Unfortunately for the “sunspots and cosmic rays, not humans, cause global warming” crowd, British scientists have just blown their claims out of the water.

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Rush Limbaugh: Al Gore’s Spending $300 Million On ‘Manmade Global Warming Scam’

Posted by Page on April 2nd, 2008

Anyone who’s ever surfed the AM radio airwaves has doubtless stumbled upon Rush Limbaugh, who is arguably the most well-known right wing talk show host out there. Over the years, he has been a convenient megaphone for the climate change denier crowd. He has interviewed them, reinforced their rhetoric, been suckered by fake research, and even given his own interpretation of the facts (polar bears stranded on ice floes are “just playing“).

Predictably, one of his latest targets has been Al Gore. Last year, Limbaugh got out the popcorn, switched on the TV, and took notes on “Live Earth” for his audience, claiming that it was “an absolute disaster”, and gloated that “[c]old weather and snow the week before kept people away from [the event in] Johannesburg,”.

Now, Limbaugh is repeating his “Live Earth was a failure” meme. The proof (according to Limbaugh) is Al Gore’s new bipartisan ad campaign to promote awareness of global warming awareness and action we can take.

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So, remember those anthrax attacks in 2001?

Posted by Page on March 30th, 2008

October 6, 2001. Across America, people were opening their newspapers to read about Bush’s impending war in Afghanistan, or maybe another article about the September 11 terrorist attacks. Chances are, most only gave the following article a brief glance:

Florida Man Dies of Rare Form of Anthrax

A 63-year-old Florida man who had been hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax on Tuesday died today, state health officials said.

Of course, in light of the September 11 attacks, the word “terrorism” was whispered, but public health officials firmly stated that did not yet know how the man had contracted the disease.


A New York City Emergency Service police officer inspects a mailbox on New York’s Fifth Avenue, yesterday. (October 17, 2001) — AP photo

However, by October 9, the FBI had taken over the case, which was now making front page news; by October 11, three people had died in Florida. On October 13, the news broke that an NBC employee in New York had contracted anthrax:

Anthrax case confirmed in New York

An NBC employee in New York today tested positive for anthrax, following tests at the offices of the TV network after mail containing a suspicious powder was received.

The anthrax was not the inhaled form of the disease, which killed a Florida man a week ago. The female NBC employee has the skin form of the disease and is expected to recover, the network said.



With the US Capitol in the background, members of the US Marine Corps’ chemical-biological incident response force demonstrate anthrax clean-up techniques… — AP photo

Three days later, headlines across the nation announced:

Anthrax threat comes to Congress

New security precautions and a swelling unease swept the U.S. Capitol and much of the nation yesterday after a letter testing positive for anthrax was opened in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

The discovery of a letter containing a powdery substance and a Trenton, N.J., postmark brought the reality of terrorism literally to Congress’ desktop in the most direct way since the attack Sept. 11 on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. It caused officials to redouble efforts to secure the buildings and people on Capitol Hill and to search for a common thread.

Until 2001, there had only been 18 fatal cases of pulmonary anthrax in the US in the past 100 years; the 10 fatal cases in 2001 were the first in US history caused by an intentional release of anthrax. Eventually, public health officials were able to determine that seven anthrax-laden letters were were mailed; four were opened.

Americans waited on the edge of their seats for the FBI to announce that they’d caught the culprit (or culprits). Publicly, it looks like they hit some rough spots early on; investigators argued about the possible source of the anthrax: who might have formulated the weapon? Was it “weaponized”? Military grade? Were the perpetrator(s) former US military lab researcher(s), or maybe just researcher(s) in a civilian lab? (The Bush administration immediately tried to pin it on Saddam, of course.)

In any case, it was agreed that the anthrax was “energetic”, and “professionally done”, became airborne easily, and was therefore readily inhaled and effective as a weapon.

Five years (and many conspiracy theories) later, the feds gave their last update. They said that they’re still on the case, and that it has high priority.

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