Unfortunately I'm also a Pirates fan, wish they could patten this idea and make a few bucks to sign a half good player. I'll just blame there losing on Global warming, that has to be it.

As a Seattle Mariner fan I can empathize with you. The M's finally went out and bought a top quality pitcher and you would think they had just scaled Mt. Everest! But it is interesting how many corporations are begining to understand that it is in their best interest to adopt more sustainable practices. It is an attitude that is spreading.

Social Responsibility !

What a concept! Sounds familiar too......I seem to remember similar programs in the 90's before fear mongering became the fashion.

Probably won't fly with the AGW crowd because it lacks guilt, alarmism and, my favorite, global wealth distribution.

Another interesting advantage to such programs is that they are measurable. Unlike the carbon scam, each activity can be measured to evaluate productivity and/or usefulness without severely limiting economic growth or progress.

Sir Yeager:
I think this year they should have all the talent they need. As for initiative, for me it is the ultimate answer. I have been hoping that we Americans with so much talent in business,Science,
and technology, would start to make the right moves on it's own. We don't need a carbon tax, regulations ,incentive's, bribes. We just need to make a few basic changes in our own way,and that alone would suffice. I think for the last eight years Americans have become polarized. Now when I see someone litter, waste energy, and become reckless in their concept of what Freedom is, I speak up. What the hell. If some of us,or most of us are dumb, educate them. I look at them as a five years old. so I figure if I have a clue, why not offer them a chance to think. When the Constitution was ratified, and the Federalist Papers were written to promote it, they talked about our commonality of purpose. If your are free without any restraints, than you can't enjoy what the real essence of freedom is. Now if I could get my son to put down his bong,that would be,what we all want,progress.
KIPP

We can all do a lot to cut back on pointless waste, garbage and pollution.

At the top, I'd start by eliminating the IRS, the IPCC, and sacking the entire current UN staff. At the other end we can all take steps like cutting back on beef consumption, unnecessary driving, recycling.

The Pirates are to be commended for their efforts.

The EU wants to destroy their own tourist industry in order to raise taxes, and of course save the world.

US airlines must pay for their carbon dioxide emissions or face a curb on flights to the European Union, the EU transport commissioner warned yesterday.

"It's always possible to imagine reducing the number of flights or suspending certain rights"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/15/carbonemissions.travelandtransport

The Yankees cut Billy Crystal....he is available to the Pirates!

Reply from Paul: Good one!!

As a Red Sox fan, I have no sympathy (1918) for losing teams. Maybe AGW helped the Red Sox win 2 times this decade?

Off topic: Atmospheric phycists were "baffled" when a meteorite traveled faster and hit harder than would have been expected...about 40 to 50 times faster than it "should" have been going.

Schultz said his team's observations suggest that scientists may need to change "theories" about the different ways objects can hit. "We have to go back to the drawing board and think again," he said.

But rest assured folks, the same caliber of geniuses are convinced that .0087% CO2 is driving our climate and "significantly" effecting our atmosphere. No question about it.

They may want to change their "theory" about climate change as well.

What a joke this has become. They should be embarrassed and ashamed for their fear mongering.

Hey, if owner/commissar Bud Selig is foursquare behind it (like drug tests in the '90s) it's sure to work.

There aren't enough specifics to say if the plan is just another corporate greenwash. It may raise some awareness either way.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1990&Itemid=42

Instead of hiring Green Teams pick up after games, tell the slob fans to recycle their trash properly.

and
Offsetting the environmental impact of up to half team and employee travel

That should be quite popular here. This board is universally supportive of carbon offsets. The ballclubs could also serve microbrews made just with local ingredients.

More evidence of global warming

US temperatures are below normal, as they are in Canada, Mexico, Western Europe, Africa and South America.

http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp1.html
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp2.html
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp3.html
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp4.html
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp8.html
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp10.html

Continuing the persistent cold trend in 2008. The IPCC predicted that 2008 would be between 0.4 and 1.0 degrees above normal.
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/archives/1990%20IPCC%20verification.png

It appears that we have cooled to similar levels as 16 years ago. But the cold of 1992 was largely the result of the Mt Pinatubo eruption. What excuse does the IPCC have in 2008?

for PaulB: I wonder if you have ever been to a local AGW action group meeting. I'm guessing not!! If it is anything like the one that I attend the last thing that you will find is "guilt, alarmism and, my favorite, global wealth distribution." This is a group of hard working, commited individuals who are doing everything that they can on a local level to cut their carbon foot print AND they are trying to influence big government, big business, and big money to do the same. They take personal "Social Responsibility" and they act on it! While most of them are in the lower middle class and retired folks, the last thing they are interested in is "income redistribution". Is that the new reactionary code word for "welfare"? So there is little alarmism, NO guilt and wealth distribution takes the form of the monthly potluck meeting. Very grass roots; very scarry! Do you have a lot of wealth that you are worried about? Probably better to take that point up with Bear Stearns! They are the real pros in that field!!

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a pathetic organization. From top to bottom. They may even be the most pathetic organization in recent sports history. The Pittsburgh Pirates need to stop with this stupid touchee feelee publicity stunt nonsense of "going green" and stop with catering to fans who don't care about baseball but care more about freebee promotions and fireworks displays, as opposed to investing their mountains of money on putting a decent product on the field. A decent product on the field, i.e. a team of real baseball players, and not these girlee men we have seen over the last 15 years, is something that WILL NEVER OCCUR WITH THIS CURRENT OWNERSHIP GROUP. An ownership group who has made it perfectly clear that they don't care about their fan base, that being the fan base that acutally cares about a winning team. I am a Pittsburgh Pirate fan. I am NOT a fan of this current Pittsburgh Pirates ownership, and as a result, they will be lucky if they get 3 games out of me this season. And believe me, I made this decision long before this stupid "going green" annoucement was made. Yes, Pittsburgh, another abismal season of Pirates baseball looms at our throats. But that's OK. We can all rest easy knowing that the Nuttings and their lap doggies are doing their part to save the planet from destruction. GIVE ME A FRIGGIN BREAK!!!!

Save Pittsburgh from another horrid baseball season. OUST THE NUTTING OWNERSHIP GROUP FROM PNC PARK!!!!!

There are other companies that want to do environmentally friendly things also, because there is some money to be made.

One of the reasons some companies actually WANT Government Mandates is that it can help redirect money to them, and generate more investments with the resulting potentially big bucks. Startup Companies, Venture Capital, Al Gore...

Follow the money.

*The Biggest Economic Opportunity of This Century.*
http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2008/03/14/the-biggest-economic-opportunity-of-this-century.aspx

Good old American capitalism, ahhhhh.

Hansen's words will be coming back soon to haunt him. Given that he discounts La Nina and the sun as being "minor" effects, he is going to have a very tough time explaining the below average temperatures in 2008. (Assuming that he ever gets into a situation where he actually has to answer a serious question.)

He also forgot to mention the "minor" detail that the first half of 2007 was an El Nino - which in fact he had predicted to be a "Super El Nino."

The natural variations of the Southern Oscillation and the solar cycle thus have minor but
not entirely insignificant effects on year-to-year temperature change. Given that both of these
natural effects were in their cool phases in 2007, it makes the unusual warmth this year all the
more notable.

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/20071210_GISTEMP.pdf

Red Sox fans have long known some batters get bent out of shape about the environment. Rather than whacking line drives, line-drive-hitters pop out. We call Fenway Park's enviromentalist whacko, "The Green Monster." I hope the Pirates come to visit, next October.

Patrick: Based on a preceding paragraph in your referenced Hansen document, he's using 0.1 deg C global temperature change for the amplitude of the 11-year solar cycle. I've seen recent reports at more than twice that. He's also failing to take into account the 2- to 5-year lag between solar and global temperature. Since we've just reached the solar minimum, it'll take 2 to 5 years for the earth to catch up.

Also note that in the paragraph preceding your quote, while discussing ENSO, he fails to mention that 2007 started out in an El Nino and that there's a 3-month lag. If you shift the ENSO data 3 months, it took until December for the negative La Nina value to equal or exceed the April positive El Nino value, so the effect is still weighted toward El Nino. And remember that NINO3.4 data is anomaly data referenced to a base period. Is the base truly representative of the breakeven point between the global heating and cooling effects? Probably not.

What I take from Hansen's statement that is the positive impact of the El Nino during 2007 exceeded the negative of solar. Just what you'd expect.

Easy there kenvinag .......you make this sound like a church meeting ..."I wonder if you have ever been to a local AGW action group meeting"

Sounds like circling the wagons if you ask me .....

You will learn that many many people are in favor of proctecting the environment ( and I don't mean politically) but really protecting the environment. Many are lured into the AGW MOVEMENT because it is so over whelming because it preys on guilt and fear.

Follow these people that you claim to know and you will see that true environmental causes concern them, not politcal brain washing. The more these people learn the truth, the less AGW is a concern. CO2, carbon credits/offsets/taxes are simply get rich quick schemes.

Look carefully who/what benefits from these schemes (UN, Governments, Energy corporations etc etc.) ........regretably the environment is far far down the list. Solutions are being replaced by penalties against the masses. Penalties NEVER solve anything other than creating a revenu stream for someone. Problems always exist until resolved/eliminated! AGW is not a problem but a philosophy ! Any inference or similarities to the environment is purely coincidental.

Hi Celeb
If the Pirates visit the Red Sox in October you can rest assure it will be in the bleachers. That is if they don't get lost on their way to the park. Pirates 2008 forecast 60-102, if the Global Warming lets up , maybe 61-101 maybe. GO BUCCOS. Please if some out there is a multimillionare, billionare {Mark Cuban} please buy the Pirates, with the current owners they will not have a winning season with them. Even Al Gore could figure that one out. Well maybe not.

Pirates 2008 forecast 60-102, if the Global Warming lets up , maybe 61-101 maybe.

REPLY: 52 and 110. Mark it down! (And it won't be due to Glo-BULL Warming, either).