Amazing, the world does feel like a cooler place now.

OOP, sorry, that was just the vacuousness of the statements from the "dignataries". It's still warming up.

I wonder if there will be an honest assessment of the reality of how much was actually recycled from the locations. I wonder, was it worth the expense of the energy in the process.

But, on a brighter note, that Katie sure can do agood report huh?

Regarding the Al Gore Freak Show:
ahahahahahahahhahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA!!!
(ROFLOL)

Footnote: after Leo DiCaprio's "Our Actions" speech, he boarded his private jet for Hollywood, as they all did!

Regarding the Governor of NJ: for a guy who was banged up pretty badly 3 months ago, RIDING IN HIS SUV (oops, freudian slip there) at top speed paid for by the NJ taxpayer (oops, another slip!), John Corzine looks remarkably good!

Of course it was worth the expense. I am now aware of global warming. I'm certain that there are many more like me who had never ever heard of it before, which was the intended mission of the concerts, was it not?

I remember watching Live 8 on TV and I can asure it was -by far- more succesful than this concert. I don't know why. It was another good oportunity for people to gather...
Perhaps uncle George asked Americans not to go...

Now, seriously, I think the concert was a waste of time/money because nobody attended. I mean, I would have gone if such concert had been held where I live... but what's wrong with people in the world? why don't we support this kind of events?
I'm just wondering...

Good to hear about NJ passing the new law. What we're seeing is that cities and states are taking the initiative on this. Corporations are going to have to eventually have all of their products adapt to the standards California and New York set because it's easier just to use one standard.

Here is a take on Gorefest '07 from the National Review Online;

Kofi Benti, a Ghanaian academic and winner of a World Bank award, doesn't pull any punches with his view of Live Earth:

Few people in Africa got to see Al Gore and his troupe of rock-star ecologists strutting their stuff two weekends ago, because most have neither television nor electricity. That's just as well, because they would have been aghast at Live Earth's bizarre message.

In Africa, we have much more serious things to worry about than climate change. Indeed, if they achieve their objective the concerts will have done harm to the people of Africa.

Other than the fact that it took place one weekend ago and not two I think he's quite right.

Emiliano, I would guess the reasons more people didn't attend is because A: It's summer and there's better things to do.
B: The hypocracy of the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
C:The public has been whacked over the head continously with this doom and gloom for years now and is coming to the stark realization that...wait for it...the sky hasn't even started to fall yet!
You can only beat a dead horse for so long and the crowd begins to move on.

Posted on a previous thread, but fits well on this one:

Al Gore has always wanted to lead a group, any group, no matter what the agenda, as long as he can fool enough followers to place him on a pedestal, thinking he's the messiah. That's how politicians are driven. They have a need for popularity.

He could'nt make President, the ultimate pedestal, so he saw another bandwagon, got himself into the pulpit and spoke his way to the top of another forum.

He used the very tactics of televangelism and multi-level marketing gurus, which has made more than one preacher very rich on the naivety and wallets of their blind followers.

The world is filled with naiive followers, so there will always be televangelical preachers who cry "the sky is falling and I can save you, if you follow me".

If Gore had made President, Bush would probably have seized the global warming opportunity and you lads would be bowing before George W.

I'm tired of Global Warming. Will some new leader please cook up something else to be taxed and worried about.

The concert and presentation for action was cogent to say the least. AL Gore has done the world a great service. I think of ghg build-up like an unkempt room where more and more clothing is dropped on the floor. After a while the air becomes stuffy and replete with dust particles. It's the same thing with fossil fuel use. My analogy is cogent. We must to reduce ghg emission!

Six new all-time records were broken in British Columbia yesterday:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070713.BCHEAT13/TPStory/National

The question becomes: Why do deniers put so much emphasis on the 20% of the world that's below normal, while ignoring the 80% of the world that has above normal temperatures? I thought they were supposed to be Fair and Balanced?

Mark,

British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have seen those temperatures before, in my lifetime, my father's and my grandfather's, too. Don't put much faith in these so-called records. I have seen the temperature go down to -56F. at my house, one mile away at my neighbors place was
-61F. yet the official, recorded temperature for the region was taken 20 miles away at the airport at -39F., in Northern Ontario about 30 years ago.

I have seen temps of +44C on several occassions yet the official temp was recorded as +36C. Folks in the area with thermometers have argued that mistake. Some even phoned the weather station to correct them, but the official stayed at +36C.

All our live's we've always had "heat waves" and "cold snaps" every so often and I'm sure everyone has experienced them at one time or another around North America, only now there are more sophisticated and accurate methods of tracking and recording, from more wide-spread areas compared to many years ago and long before you were born.

There is also a lot more news coverage from every corner of the globe so more folks are made aware of more info than ever before. Heat waves and cold snaps and blizzards were not very news worthy back then, as most people just took them in stride as everyday living and of course, none of us burst into flames or froze solid in our tracks because of it.

People were dropping like flies one summer in the South West about 35 years ago when temps soared to +110F. and I'm sure there were unrecorded temps of +120F. in some areas. There was no end in sight according to the experts, but it did end, just like always.

If you want to back-track these heat waves, get the demographic sales statistics for air conditioners and backyard pools for the past 40 years. That will tell you when and where the temp was over +90F. You could even get it peer reviewed by Walmart. Probably just as scientific as some of the reports out there.

Official records are always being broken every once in awhile. Don't get all panicky over it, you'll end up sick from the worry. There's an old saying, "crap happens, but it always washes off eventually".

Msrk,

May be a little statistics will help you understand. Suppose the weather record extends for 100 years. On average, every location should have 3.65 record highs and 3.65 record lows every year.

However, in a model where the base temperature is assumed to have risen, record highs should be more frequent than record lows.

That is why periods of unusually cool temperatures (like Europe, the Eastern and Southern US, Greenland, Antarctica, South Africa and South America are having this summer) become interesting. Because they are difficult to explain if temperatures have risen as you believe.

Wooaaah, I knew B.C. was big but I didn't realize it accounted for 80% of the world.

The answer to your question is that: A. you are doing the exact same thing that you accuse deniers of; cherry picking extreme temps. B. Deniers have always understood that weather changes. C. We have seen enough jive statistics and studies to look at these things with a VERY jaundiced eye. D. You are gullible and in need of some sort of crises at all times. Preferably with evil mankind being at fault.

Patrick Henry, wrote:

"That is why periods of unusually cool temperatures (like Europe, the Eastern and Southern US, Greenland, Antarctica, South Africa and South America are having this summer) become interesting. Because they are difficult to explain if temperatures have risen as you believe."

You may need to be updated Patrick:

- Eastern and Southern US: where's that unusually cool weather you talk about? In any case, if temps have been cool in the south, it's because of all the rain that has been falling.
- Antarctica: In a recent post, in the "World Weather" blog, it was said that in Vostok, Antarctica, temps have been 11�F above average. Once again, where's the cold?
- Europe: You must be kidding! Right now, it's 32�c in Paris. SE Europe is baking. Don't believe me? Check out Alans Reppert's blog on European Weather, or pick a random telephone number of any person in Ukraine and ask him/her what the weather is like. In case you don't feel like calling someone in Europe, visit www.wxmaps.org. You can see the temperature forecast for the next 15 days, together with temperatures anomalies (it's well above normal, specially in Central-Eastern Europe). And I think you forgot to mention how MILD it was last winter in vast areas of Europe.
- South Africa: The unusually cold weather? www.wxmaps.org can show you the anomalies. You might be thinking of Johannesburg, which got some snow this year. Well, it's not that UNUSUAL, as it is in the mountains, and it has happened before.
- South America: My favourite, as I live here (Argentina). It's been cold, true... but hey, did you know that last year was one of the warmest on records? Did you also now that 2000/01/02/03/04/05/06 experienced the warmest winters ever? And, about the snow that fell in Buenos Aires... it's kinda rare these days, but it has happened before.

Enough to support Mark's opinion. 80% of the world is WARMER.

Hey gang,

It's summertime, the beaches are full and the fun is on. Get off the computer, grab your inner tubes and lotion and head out to the lake with the kids and have a blast.

Just don't stay out in the sun for too long as we all know it does not drive the climate but will:

1) Peel the skin off your face.

2) Give you 2nd degree burns.

3) Melt the ice off every lake in Canada and miraculously change the water temperature from +35F to over +70F in some locations.

4) Make a sunny day turn to a cloudy day.

5) Fry your brain and kill you.

6) Heat a rock until you can cook an egg on it.

7) Keep the equator winterless.

8) Evaporate water, parch the ground to hard cement and kill crops.

9) If the sun was turned down a notch, the Earth would eventually be like Antarctica.

10) If it turned up a notch, the Earth would resemble the Sahara Desert

According to some, it has little or no effect on climate, so I'm guessing that folks only need the sun to provide light, so we can all read the "Global Warming Bible" without a flashlight.

Emiliano,

Instead of hearsay, how about looking at some actual data-

Cool in the east and south
http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/MonthTDeptUS.png
Has been most of the year
http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/YearTDeptUS.png

-103F in Vostok, Antarctica. Pretty scary evidence of warming.
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=-78.44999695,106.87000275

London has been averaging about 2 degrees below normal this summer, as has Paris. The fact that the last two days have been warm in Paris is not really that interesting. Wimbledon had to be extended for a third week because of cold, rainy weather. Glastonbury was a near disaster because of cold, rainy weather.
http://www.wunderground.com/history/station/03772/2007/6/21/CustomHistory.html?dayend=16&monthend=7&yearend=2007&req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/LFPG/2007/6/21/CustomHistory.html?dayend=16&monthend=7&yearend=2007&req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
The long term forecast in London has every day below normal
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/UKXX0085?from=36hr_topnav_business

The interior of Greenland has not been above freezing for over a year.
http://www.wunderground.com/history/station/04416/2007/7/16/MonthlyHistory.html

Most of the Southern Hemisphere at your latitude was 1-3 degrees (C) below normal in June
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/work/gistemp/NMAPS/tmp_GHCN_GISS_250km_Anom06_2007_2007_1951_1980/GHCN_GISS_250km_Anom06_2007_2007_1951_1980.gif

I remember watching Live 8 on TV and I can asure it was -by far- more succesful than this concert. I don't know why. It was another good oportunity for people to gather...
Perhaps uncle George asked Americans not to go...

REPLY: I hate to tell you this E, but "Uncle George" as you refer to him is on the Global Warming Farce bandwagon, probably to try and save face as his term comes to an end. The reason people didn't go is because they know BS when they hear it.

Now, seriously, I think the concert was a waste of time/money because nobody attended. I mean, I would have gone if such concert had been held where I live...

REPLY: Of course you would have. Because you are young, impressionable, and probably a fan of some the hypocrite acts that performed, not to mention you are easily taken in by the BS!

but what's wrong with people in the world?

REPLY: Um, Nothing. Reason? See the last sentence of my first reply.

why don't we support this kind of events?

REPLY: Because they don't do any good. You are probably too young to remember that "We Are The World"/"Hands Across America" silliness from the 1980s. Where did that money go? To starving improverished Africans? Or did it go into the hands of the overpaid (some of them has been at the time) celebrities looking to keep their name out there, or the event promoters, or was the money and/or aid stopped by the dictatorial regimes in the places where the starvation was taking place? You want to end such atrocities? End the oppressive politcal regimes in those countries, plain and simple.

I'm just wondering...

REPLY: E my friend, spend your time wondering about your future, and not about the non-existant boogie man farces that you are concentrating your energies on. Something tells me that you are a bright individual. Move forward with that and prosper.

Mr. Spock, the Denier

Mark,
You broke your own Cardinal Rule (mixing daily and weekly temps which are weather -with decade and century long temp trends, which are climate).

Also, I wouldn't say that the combined landmass of the South Atlantic, South Indian Ocean, South Pacific, Austrailia, half of South America constitutes 20% of the globe; it is more like 45-55%. Two unforcasted, unseasonably cold Southern Hemisphere Winters may not quite make a trend, but it is something no one expected -especially those at NOAA and Hadley. If you really take a peek at the SH, it has been progressively cooling since 1999. How the Antartic can spawn such cold air masses when all the experts claim it is melting is a big mystery. The same can be said of the North Candadian polar source regions. If Canada is warming to such a degree, how is it that the Subpolar Vortex is still steering unseasonably cold air masses so far south (Southern Plains, Tidewater areas)?

The flooding over the Southern Plains has been focused around a boundary which seperates modified Continental Polar Air Mases from subtropical Air Masses to its South. Normally, these frontal boundaries retreat into Southern Canada by early to mid June at the latest.

"The fact that the last two days have been warm in Paris is not really that interesting."

LOL....apparently, the 80% of the globe that has been above normal is not interesting to Patrick; yet, the 20% that's not fascinates him.

"Also, I wouldn't say that the combined landmass of the South Atlantic, South Indian Ocean, South Pacific, Austrailia, half of South America constitutes 20% of the globe; it is more like 45-55%."

I'm going by numbers that Patrick posted here the other day from NASA. 80% of the latitudes were above normal in June.

But hey, did you hear it was cold and rainy in London a couple weeks ago? Surely this means AGW isn't real. I mean, let's conveniently ignore the fact that the past 365 days in England have averaged about 2 degrees Celsius (yes, Celsius) above normal and Europe may be on their way to having their warmest year.

Our resident European Accuweather blogger, Alan Reppert, was supposed to post about the surreal warmth in Europe this year. I haven't seen it from him yet but hopefully he'll get to it soon. In his words:

"That's the update for today, but for Thursday, I want to examine more on the real lack of cool weather we have seen across the almost entire continent and some about the official numbers for the past year over the continent."

Seriously, guys, if you're going to cherry-pick places in the world that are "cold" in your feeble attempt to disprove AGW, Europe is probably the last place you'd want to pick. It's been amazingly warm there this entire year.

Patrick... wonderful numbers the ones you've given.

The 80-20% thing is clearly illustrated in the map you've posted. 20% (South Central US) of the USA has been below-normal... the rest (i.e. 80%) was above-normal. And, I bet you didn't think lower temps in the South could be influenced by all the rain such region has received recently.

If you're going to pick a place in the world that has been "cool" don't choose Europe. It's been really warm. I was there last winter, as I told you beofre, and all I took with me to go sight-seeing in London was a jacket (not even gloves, or a coat at least). Only one week with decent winter-like weather. I visited Paris, France as well: A WHOLE WEEK with high temps reaching 9-10 C... that's cold uh? My aunt travelled to Spain in March, and the weather was warm enough to go sunbathing to the beach in MARCH! yes, the last month of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It's 36 C in Berlin, Germany at the moment. The same happens all over South Eastern Europe (check other cities in Germany as well, some in Poland, visit Cezch Republic, Ukraine, Rumania, Greece, etc.). About Wimbledon, in London... the matches were cancelled due to heavy rain, not due to COLD weather, as you said. England's had one of its wettest June, true, but that has nothing to do with cooler temps.
Back in Argentina, we had 42 C in early March (that's unusually hot even in summer in these latitudes). It was -103 F in Vostok yes... but for one day. Check back the very same website you've provided and see how "mild" it's been there.
About the Southern Hemisphere being colder than "normal" during June... the link you've given is not working... could you please find another one?
You see, when it comes to trying to support your argument, you start mixing things up: climate with weather and so on. But if you have current weather observations and a 10-year trend of Warming... what would you think?

Emiliano.

But hey, did you hear it was cold and rainy in London a couple weeks ago? Surely this means AGW isn't real. I mean, let's conveniently ignore the fact that the past 365 days in England have averaged about 2 degrees Celsius (yes, Celsius) above normal and Europe may be on their way to having their warmest year.

REPLY: Gee! The UK's average is up 2 whole degrees??? GASP!!!! Disaster looms! The whole Island is going to be submerged!!! The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

As always,

The Propaganda (BS) Detector and Denier

the old sayings history repeats itself and there is a another sucker born everyday were coined for a reason...forty something years ago, the great 1969 concert in new york was invented to save the united states from its on culture...druggies, flower children and long haired hippies were its trademark...what became of this great societal event to save us from ourselves?