At least it's quite clear now how Lingdale can rid itself of some foul emissions and restore the natural order.

Brian, Canterbury, UK

The weather may be severe in some parts of the world and not in others? So What!

Ralph Schmalph, Jupiter, Florida

Uh, this sort of stuff happens every year and has for a lot of years in a row. When it gets cold and rains/snows it's called winter and then when it gets hot and arid it's called summer. End of global warming theory......

Rico, Sacramento, USA

Scientists are like lemmings in mouthing platitudes they all think that they agree with, and just as they have convinced themselves and try to convince others that global warming is man's fault, being dependent on their funding to prove MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING... when along come inconvenient truths.

In the past year or so, they have renamed it CLIMATE CHANGE because the figures of global temperatures of the past few years haven't actually shown overall global warming. Al Gore's much promoted J curve "proving" global warming has developed a kink and is an S now. We've been here before: the same doom mongers predicted all our natural resources would have run out by 2000 and we'd have a mini ice age by 2000. They extrapolated from imperfect data.

Carbon dioxide being the main driver of climate change - as a "greenhouse" gas - is not proven by any scientists - it is pure speculation.. why have other gases emitted by man been left out, despite being "greenhouse" gases?

Peter Hollander, Canterbury, England

In the Chinese novel "Monkey" the eponymous hero leaps to what seems to be an infinity and relieves himself -only to find that he is still on the hand of the Buddha. I think in our age it is the opposite, Almost everywhere you go, you will find evidence of where Man has relieved himself. If we take out global warming from the equation, then we could look at the levels of pollution in our environment and bodies which is simply unprecedented. Every breath, every sip and taste you touch toxins. With regard to the Polar regions I have elsewhere canvassed the idea of instituting an UNESCO chapter devoted to protecting those regions as areas of special natural and cultural beauty -which would allow the nearly two hundred nations affected by changes there -to put a break on rampant exploitation and check the possibility of a serious conflict over sovereignty.

Stephen Pain, Odense, Denmark

@ John, Cornwall, Canada:

"They bring up La Nina and connect it to global warming.. "

Who is "they"? And I didn't read about anybody connecting La Nina to global warming, certainly not in that article. Another strawman argument.

This article is mistaken, by the way, in suggesting that any summer weather event was connected to La Nina. Pacific sea temperatures were average, and there have only been the beginnings of some significant La Nina signals since August. Even in early September it was too early to say that La Nina had yet developed.

Henry, London, UK

CO2 levels (and methane+ethane, and SO2) have all been much higher across this planet's history. Did life come to an end? No. Did it change? Yes. The Holocene (current era) itself is marked by an episodic retreat of the continent girdling glaciation that marked the height of the last Ice Age. It took thousands of years. Indeed, the history of Earth is best characterized in the last 250,000 years as, "A series of Ice
Ages punctuated by brief warm periods"

It is utterly foolhardy to believe that Man can engineer CLIMATE and in turn Weather ... when she can't predict EITHER on any timescale longer than a week. And even the week's weather changes seem incongruously out of step of what "looking out the window" shows.

Is this "Bah Humbug?" ... perhaps. But there is one reality for all the Carbon Nazis that never gets mentioned: its not about legislating or taxing a reduction. it is entirely about DIGGING less out of the ground. Period.

Robert Lynch, Alameda, CA, USA

As usual the worlds media and intrested parties have managed to throw enough scary and conflicting information into the air to cause mr & mrs jo average to say "u know what ? they are all full of it, lets ignore it all"..

Regardless of whether or not the earth is cooling or heating or who is most to blame the usa, china volcano's or cow's, the steps taken at grass roots ie conservation of energy and envoirenment , recycling and adopting a more careful approach to the planet we live on can only be good for us all.

Sorry to sound like a tree hugger but if the choice is freezing, covered in ice and full of pollution, litter and a list of extinct species as long as your arm ... or arid and desert like full of pollution, litter and a list of extinct species as long as your arm..its not gonna make a huge difference...but what if we are wrong abt the warming or cooling? and we end up as we are and full of pollution, litter and a list of extinct species as long as your arm ?.

zugerman, zurich, switzerland

Last year in Southern California they said that we would have El Nino, more rain the normal. They were wrong. Don't believe what they say until it happens. They have a poor track record of being right.

Dr. Fleischer, Los Angeles, USA

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Another alarmist, fear mongering story. So what? The climate is always changing. The weather is in constant flux. Disasters WILL happen! It's called living on Planet Earth, which is a living, active biosphere! And as for the new bogeyman, Global Warming, so what? History proves a warmer planet is a much better planet for human habitation. Cold periods kill people. Period. The bottom line is, we will adapt and 9 out of 10 would prefer a warmer world to a colder one, just ask anyone north of the 48th parallel. Lastly, the earth will become cold again. Very cold, and we cannot stop it. Glaciation is the norm and interglacials, like we're in, are short. Be thankful for our warm era! One day London and New York will be ground to powder by massive ice sheets. It's garaunteed!

Scott, Tulsa, OK

Hear ye Hear ye... We are being smacked by the God of global warming... and because the global warming is so bad the ocean is cooling for La Nina....

Now lets be real... one minute the doom and gloom morons are running around like chicken little saying the earth is burning the earth is burning... now they're running around screaming the ocean is cooling the ocean is cooling...

Sorry, but you can't have cooling and warming at the same time unless your willing to just admit your clueless about the weather and shut up.

Yirmin Snipe, boston,

I've never read so many ignorant comments before in my life. It speaks to a huge failure on the part of the global scientific community to educate non-scientists.

On the other hand, most non-scientists can't say diddly-squat about the Earth's climate history, solar output, and other processes because they simply aren't qualified, and they don't understand.

They WANT to believe in something, one way or the other, based on what they've read or been told. Never mind the facts.

Steve, Vermillion, USA/SD

American's still question global warming because we don't just listen to mainstream media and nod our heads to whatever they have to say.

We research multiple sources and connect the dots between the reports [IPCC] and the funding / interests of the political group [UN].

For example, see the true reflections of peer reviewed papers:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,176495.shtml

And take a look at the number of refuting arguments to global warming, or should I call it climate change for you?

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=175b568a-802a-23ad-4c69-9bdd978fb3cd

Fact remains that climate changes naturally, sometimes by 30 or more degrees F in a single day. Among our most prosperous times came during the MWP [around 1000-1400] while one of our worst periods came during the little Ice Age [black plague].

Your Greenpeace rhetoric doesn't work on those that are at least semi-intelligent.

ExPat In London, London, UK,

To hell with ALL the "experts"...They don't even know what the weather will be tomorrow, let alone years into the future....Only fools predict the weather....

Charles L. McLeod, Ocala, Fla

Tragically, weather predictions are just that. Ask ten meteorologists and you will get ten different answers. Such was the case over the last 2 years as the U.S. was supposed to be bombarded with violent hurricanes.

Pierre, Miami, FL

Looks and sounds like another good PR story for climate change that in natural . I love it that those who know still wont say.
The real concern is how best to prepare for survival . That should be the top stories.

Joe Yarka, glenwood, new mexico

'The fact that a given explanation is a 'theory' does not make the underlying phenomena any less real'

Errr fair point Ken, but then it doesn't mean that the theory is necessarily right either now does it?

andy, Worthing, UK

I spent a number of years at a climate research center many years ago where a few projects I worked were on South American climate. That meant a lot of research on both La Nina and El Nino. We saw their influence on South America but could never find a significant correlation with weather in the northern hemisphere. This is basically just another news story (of many) that gets blown out of proportion. As for climate change, climate is derived from an abundance of historical weather covering a long period of time, not one summer in California or Europe. Likewise a summer of hurricanes or lack of hurricanes means nothing with respect to the big "climate" picture. I don't dispute evidence of some form of possible climate change (based on facts and not on agendas), but weather is far from an exact science and we all know that... so I find it far scarier that man speculates on how to reverse something that man does not understand to begin with.

Rick B, Somerset,

So who is measuring this ever increasing percentage of believers ???....The same people that want you to believe in the theory...All polls are set up to say exactly what those paying for the polls want them to say...Get a life....We can't control the climate..its something we will have to adapt to through the changes...You think the world has never been warmer or colder on average than it is now???...Get real man does not and can not control the climate except in some small biosphere or other experimental environment allows for the controls...We can't control the Sun or Moon or the orbits or solar activity...Sorry , learn to live with it...The current Al Gore led scare just like the Impending Ice Age predicted by these same folks in the 70's that should be wiping us out right now is all about money...research money...Billions of dollars worth...

Stephen Larrivee, Ruther glen, Va, USA

Every cloud has a silver lining. I'm planning on skiing in Western Canada this winter, so if the models are right, I should hvae a great time..

Paul Ackers, Southampton, UK

Slightly irrelevant - back before white man got to America, the place was teeming with buffaloes. Whites wiped them out.

Now that they've been replaced by cattle, a barely different bovine (cross breeding is easy), we're told that cow methane is ruining the climate.

What happened to buffalo methane? Why did it not influence the weather?

neil, waterford, ireland

The poster above say: "If you think something being a theory makes it wrong then you don't understand the meaning of the word theory as it is used in science. "
And the obvious retort to that is that if you think all these theories are totally correct you don't understand the dictionary meaning of theory. Unlike Humpty Dumpy who says "words mean whatever I want them to mean” humans don’t get that privilege. The poster says each of these theories is "real” whatever that means. Each theory has problems. Otherwise these wouldn't be called theories. Which brings us to El Nino? Scientists claim to know what causes it but, despite their protestations to the contrary, they don't know why it occurs and have done a laughable job of predicting it. Same with global warming. At the moment the GW hysteria is based on computer models, politics and Al Gore lining his pockets. Science has essentially noting to do with it. The folks pushing this can't predict the weather 4 days forward.

Weixk Blir, LA, USA

" In contrast, western Canada and the northwestern US could turn colder and snowier. "....um, I believe that is called winter.

Rupert, Albany, NY, USA

Mr. Jones of Cheltenham,


I think it is you who has misunderstood the meaning of the word "theory". Stating that Darwinian evolution is "real" is the opposite of recognising it's true position as theory. While gravity can be measured, observed, and repeated in scientific tests and examinations, evolution theory is nothing more than the individuals' interpretation of variable data. It is not something which can be measured, or repeated. It is not observable. Anyone can look at geological strata, ancient bones, etc. and interpret them as they like, but no one can fall out of a tree and say to Mr. Newton, "I disagree, sir"!

Björn, Helsingborg, Sweden

La Nina and El Nino have been around as long as man, and long before man crossed the land bridge from Asia to populate N. and S. America.

The weather this article describes is nothing new. Only the global warming hysteria is.

The only thing you can say with certainty is the weather is always changing. So get a grip and get on with your lives.

P. Kronfield, Burnet, Texas

Ah well, regardless of what the diseased liberals and the parasite politicians say causes global warming, the truth is, the Sun causes warming and cooling of all the planets in the solar system.

Mac, Victoville,

If you read the article more carefully, you would see that this was not a "doomsday" article--not that anthropogenic climate change isn't to be taken seriously. This article discussed a natural (like sleep!) oceanic/atmospheric cycle that originates in the tropical pacific. This cycle CAN bring significant changes to weather. No one is to blame... :)

Jeanne, Philadelphia, PA

Climate change is happening before our eyes today. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks or says. It's happening and the effects on humans in not good. Humans are cutting down the rain forests and burning millions of gallons of gas every day. Take Biology 101 again!

Jimmy Jenius, Issaquah, WA

It's laughable. Gore says the science is "settled". He and others say no peer-reviewed articles have been published to counter the AGW hypothesis. When it's pointed out that hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles argue there's nothing unusual about earth's cooling and heating cycles, and offer mechanisms to explain them, the loons say: those have ALL been "debunked."

NEVER MIND that scientists don't "debunk" each other . They offer data and hypothesis and other scientists take pot shots at it. NEVER MIND that "peer-review means an article has been thorougly vetted by other scientists. . NEVER MIND that in the history of science NO theory about ANYTHING has been adopted unanimously. Look what Einstein did to Newton, and look what Bohr et al. did to Einstein.

ONLY non-scientific people CLUELESS as to how science works can join in this hysteria. It's laughable seeing Christians being blamed; a lotta scientists are Jews, Hindus, Buddhists as well.

Jack, boston, usa

I hope Al Gore and co are alive when it becomes obvious that global warming is caused by the sun, and that human activity might actually insulate this planet from it.

Paul Scofield, milton keynes,

CDP from London, here's a newsflash: The models used to predict global warming do not account for any cloud cover or moisture, which does a great deal to cool the air. There is no model that can predict the weather because we cannot cloud movement. CO2 levels FOLLOW warming, not the other way around. I would not have made this a national reason as you have but perhaps Americans are less gullible than our friends in Britain. And less arrogant, to think that man can change the weather!

Deane Pradzinski, HIghland, CA

Quite simply, for those of us who choose to enlighten ourselves with all of the facts, as opposed to selected "facts" that conform to a political doctrine, anyone can see that global warming is a myth....junk science. To alter the planetary climate, we would have to be bigger than the planetary climate. We are not. It controls us, not the other way around. I liken the global warming alarmism to a fad similar to polyester clothing and mood rings in the 1970s. It came and it went. This global warming fad will pass. Then we can concentrate on the more important and pressing issues such as the security of the world from terrorism and effectively recovering energy resources around the world in order to keep the world economy healthy and prosperous. Look at the big picture. We're in pretty good shape right now. This global warming fad is just a bump in the road only seen by those who choose to engage in tunnel vision. One must think outside the box, not inside the box. That is the key.

R. Freeman, Austin, Texas

La Niña is composed of 12 intermodal frequencies which can be observed, in an inexpensive fashion, by placing headwear composed of light gauge aluminum foil at an offset of 9 degrees from gravitational verticle upon the head while facing 123 degrees from true north.
The first 5 La Niña frequencies control what some are currently calling "global warming", and these are at an increased wave form since 1977. The last 7 frequencies will fluctuate over time and give the atmospheric amplitude greater or lesser influences depending on the density of religious fervor emminating from vestibules in predawn hours.

Roger Johns, Baltimore, USA/Maryland

I love it! That’s the ticket! "Green" taxes to stop the Pacific from cooling! If we could just get a "Green" tax to stop cows from farting! What a wonderful world we would live in.

Dudley, Spring, Texas

Before the Global Warming Addicts get high on there latest Climate changing headline grabbing Fix.

La Niña is just a natural weather system like the monsoons, El Niño and stormy weather ( like yesterday in the UK when warm air from the south clashed with cold air from north).

Calm down its what normal call 'the weather' - breath in, and exhale. And repeat

Dan, London, UK

It is the straw that finally braks the camel's back, as the saying goes. Little things can make a big difference. Is there any doubt that the arctic ice is melting? And that this will cause great havoc in the world?

To say that this sort of thing has happened before is being an ostrich. Civilizations apparently have collapsed due to climate change. We are not immune. And as almost everyone admits, man is having an effect on climatr--the argument is how much? Well, if the world is warming up naturally, and man is adding to the warming, a catastrophe is brewing. The current earth warming could be worse than any before.

Look at biology. we have frogs growing extra legs, or being short leg, due to water pollution. Every little bit adds to the damage. Same with climate.

roy Lechtreck, Alabaster, , Alabama US

If Al Gore said it - It must be true. I believe that is all the science that a democrat needs.

Dave Schoneberg, Billings, Montana

More rubbish from the Global-Warming, sorry tax-you-more lobby. The UK was going to have the hottest summer ever in 2007. What happened? It rained non-stop for 3 months.

Then, becuase the numpties in power had built over the flood plains, there were massive floods. And, you've already guessed it, the floods were blamed on "climate change" !!

tim, london, uk

La Nina doesn't threaten to wreak the world's weather. It IS part of the world's weather. Please don't give us the "casts its spell over the globe" drivel. Our wonderful planet has some very complex mechanisms for its long-term operation. If you expect it to get hotter or drier, or rain more or less, I suggest we look for ways to work to adjust to those conditons. I believe that good stewardship of our planet is important, but I would strongly caution against spending $billions to tinker with climate mechanisms until the geological "downstream" effects are more fully understood.

David Bennett, Georgetown, TX

What do any of us really know? All I know is that I have adapted every day for over 36 years. I just do. I take a little Farmer's Almanac, a little t.v. meteorologist, a little groundhog, a little finger in the wind, and my husband (who knows everything anyway!) and mix it all up, then trust it about 50% of the time.
Voila! No politics, I can still drive my minivan (because I recycle and use compact fluorescents), and I can ignore that super-wacky Al Gore.
Oh, and I keep an umbrella in my car, just in case.

Who cares though - some good winters/summers, some bad. It all evens out. You water more, you water less, and life just goes on -amazingly!

Beth, Meriden, USA/CT

Frank in Houston- The consensus was once that the Sun revolved around the Earth, as well.

Ron in Pittsburg- I think what you said was GREAT! And being a Christian, I beleive that more than this consensus over Global Warming (especially when only 30 years ago, people were screaming over the coming ice age).

BTW- THEORY- as defined by Merriam Webster (among other defintions) include: "Abstract Thought. Speculation", and "An unproved assumption; conjecture". Theory is NOT synonymous with consensus and fact. Not even a little bit.

And who the hell is teaching that evolution is NOT a Theory? When was the original theory proven to be true? I never saw a fish grow fingers or a bird change into something else- which is what the original THEORY was, for something to naturally evolve into something ELSE.

Why does no one talk about water vapor, which takes up much more of our atmosphere and affects climate? Perhaps no one can make money from man made water vapor offset credits?

Jenny Bea, Stamford, CT

When "scientists" tell us within reasonable limits the increase in temperature that results from a given amount of CO2 absorbed in the atmosphere, then, and only then, can they assert a causal link. Otherwise it's like Newton blaming the tree for the apple falling. Cutting down all the apple trees will indeed stop apples from falling. But it won't stop a boulder from landing on your head.

Steve, Tulsa, USA

"Wow! this is the most absurd thing I have heard in quite a while. One thing you left out about Newton and his "theory of Gravity" There is a "LAW OF GRAVITY" Scientific theories are nothing"

Actually I didn't leave it out because of that. i left it out because I assumed that people here would know that The 'Law' of gravity is no such thing. It's called a law because nobody knew better!

Newton's 'Law' as been replaced by Einstein's 'theory' of general relativity. And in this case the 'theory' is way more accurate than the 'law'

If I was you I'd go away and learn a little science!

Kevin Jones, Cheltenham, UK

We believe what we want to believe. Nature will take its course no matter what. Why doesn't the "scientific community" have more to say on the observed effect the sun has on this emotional issue of global warming? Its because an explanation this simple/complex is not very romantic or dramatic. Let us focus our resources on conservation and fighting pollution that is vital to the sustaining of a helathy humanity and not waste time and energy trying to beat down nature with false science - e.g. global warming caused by the actions of humans.

Bruce Harwood, Muskegon, Michigan USA

There are several theories but no concrete understanding of what causes La Niña and El Niño events. But NO ONE suggests La Niña and El Niño are the result of anything human's do. Therefore, all the unpleasent consequences of La Niña are natural!! Anthopological Global Warming true belivers should take a chill pill.

PMG, Philadelphia, USA, NJ

I'd like to see water pipelines to connect reservoirs so that when too much water is in one place, it can be diverted to the drought area. Water is nearly as precious as oil, and potable water will be one day. We need to develop solutions now to the flooding/drought problems. That much we can do whether we're about have global warming or not.

Nancy B. Krupp, Millbrook, USA/NY

"La Nina threatens to wreck the world's weather." You've got to be kidding! La Nina IS the WORLD's weather!

Steve, Arlington, WA

This is all well and good but somehow La Niña must be the USA's fault. It just has to be.

Gary , Waxhaw, USA/North Carolina

"A consensus of scientists in Christopher Columbus's day also that that the world was flat."

I'm sorry but this is a myth that's been propagated and is completely false.

The Greeks knew the earth was round - they even measured the circumference (quite accurately) using the length of shadows from sticks the same length from different parts of the earths surface.

Kevin Jones, Cheltenham,

Green is the new Red.

Wesley, Tucson, Arizona

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Over 40 comments posted on this article and everyone appears to be blinded by the shinny media lies. La Nina and El Nino are just words of distraction for HAARP.

If you don't know what HAARP is, enlighten yourself by Googling it.

Then read this article from 2005 in USATODAY:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2005-10-31-military-weather_x.htm

Then go to YOUTUBE.com and do a search for HAARP.

Zende, Decatur, GA

Having read Paul Simons article again, I can find no mention of climate change - either man made or natural! It is purely and simply about a completely naturally occuring phenomena known as La Nina.
I am very surprised at the about of interest our American cousins find in our press. In fact I have noticed this on previous occasions when items to do with climate crop up they swamp the forum pages and drown out anyone who does not with them. One must make up their own minds whether there is a conspiracy going on here.

Jim Murdlem, Manchester, GMC

Tom, Truro.

No he doesn't mean Darwins "Theory of Evolution".

He means the explanation of the diversification of Nature detailed in Darwins book, On the Origin of Species.

Alex, Salisbury, UK

Who cares anyway, we're all going to die regardless of what the weather does or doesn't do. Make peace with yourself and your maker (if so inclined) and enjoy the rest of your life (however long it may be)!

Rob, Carrollton, VA, USA

Only the universe and human ignorance are infinite. We aren't sure about the universe! Who said that?

B Harrell, Dover, USA FL

L. Kotowicz sounds as if he is Polish and in step with 1984. Its too bad he decides to throw in with the "defiled" and "uneducated". Maybe if I say my point loud enough I will be heard and someone will listen. The only one sounding like a "sheepie" is the one who can't accept a differing view-point which by the way also happens to be justified by the same science which purports that the globe is warming up to unacceptable levels. I just wish someone in this vast array of intellectuals would explain why the Antartic ice shelf is the largest and thickest that it has ever been since they have been measuring it. Oh wait we are too busy focusng on the Artic ice shelf. To bad a little RCMP ship called the St Roch went from Halifax to Vancouver in 82 days in 1944. There must have been no ice up there back then EH? But but the its the least amount of ice since 1971 satelite imagery. Hmmm Nothing existed before 1971. You said it Homer!

Jeff, Hurley,

Of course there is global warming...and cooling...and warming. It is a natural cycle of weather events that have been with us for several years...make that thousand years. And have you noticed how green some of the forested areas are looking? In my limited understanding of things biological. CO2 is what trees eat and if there is more CO2 then more branches grow and then more leaves and then these leaves bless us with more O2...gee that sounds like a good thing. Check out the satellite pix of forested area. Don't some of them look really good?

Chuck Stires, Youngsville, NC

Someone up above mentioned the USA's unwillingness to sign the Kyoto Protocol. This seems to be a common misunderstanding, but the fact is that the US did sign Kyoto. Bill Clinton signed it. Now all that needs to happen is that it needs to be ratified by congress. Democrats control congress..... I wonder why they aren't bringing it up for a vote? It could be that, despite their retoric, they realize that a treaty that would require Americans to give up driving every car East of the Mississippi, AND would have no measurable effect on global temperatures is a loser with their voters.
Enjoy trading your carbon Europe. The fact is that you are not meeting your commitments under Kyoto. You stacked Kyoto by choosing the 1990 benchmark date. You are growing emissions faster than the US and are less productive with the carbon that you employ.

DR, Spartanburg, SC

This is the first board I've seen where most of the people are actually thinking with their own minds. We could answer the question of global warming if anyone out there can tell us what temperature an earth is supposed to be. It's been constantly changing without the help of evil man.
What egos people have who think we can stop climate change!

denise gehrand, safety harbor, fl, usa

Oh my big hurricaines blah blah blah. This has been one of the least active hurricaine seasons on record. El Nino and La Nina have been around for thousands of years and are nothing new. I find it odd how these people are able to say things like "it disrupts normal weather patterns and interferes with the jets stream." If weather, sea currents, air and sea temps, air currents etc. are dynamic and always moving and change how is it possible to even determine what is "the normal" weather pattern. Like Global Warming, who determined what the correct global temperature should be? Ask any geologist and they will tell you the ice ages were the result of drastic changes in the flow of sea currents from closure of the gap between N America & S America via volcanic activity. They will also tell you this is a continuous cycle and regardless of whether Global Warming occurs in the meantime, a new ice age will still occur. So in the end worrying about Global Warming is an exercise in futility.

Tim Higgins, Covington, GA / USA

I read in one of these English rags that reindeer cause huge amounts of GWG (Global Warming Gasses) with their methane loaded belches and farts. Now I figure that since humans have killed off the vast majority of belching and farting grazing animals in the wild during the last 200-300 years, the pollution we're emitting from burning fossil fuels probably equalizes the missing methane farts and belches from beasties, so we're getting worked up over nothing.

ronski, SAINT PETERSBURG, USA/FL

The only reason for denying man's part in climate change is inconvenience. The reason for saying man plays a part in climate change is ... what, exactly? Why would you make it up? Why the heck would someone make that kind of stuff up? For a laugh? I'm sure the worried scientists would LOVE for all this not to be true.

Climate change deniers are selfish people, who just don't want to have to do anything about their behaviour.

starling, Lancaster,

I wrote a paper titled "Nonlinear statistics reveals stronger ties between ENSO and the tropical hydrological cycle" last year..Very interesting read in this respect.
Download the paper from http://www.eng.usf.edu/~skhan4/Khanetal_NonlinearStatistics_GRL2006

Thanks.

Shiraj Khan, Boston, USA/MA

I love that everyone is going berserk over a few years of documented warmer weather. At most we have ~150 years of weather records, out of how many millions of years we now believe the earth has aged? This is such a small period of time in the course of things that I don't think any conclusions can be drawn from it. What's to say this isn't completely normal for our earth and that the planet and its inhabitants won't adapt accordingly?

Nastassja, Virginia,

the US may have only 4.5% of the world's population but it actually is the highest consumer of energy and resources in the world.

miles, san pedro, lwguna

Can Michael please explain how global warming causes cooling of oceans?

La Nina is a narural phenomenon due to many factors, almost all natural. Man''s activities have minimal, if any, impact on it..

The climate is certainly changing, but then it always has changed ever since Earth had a climate. The earth is still warming up after the last ice age. In due course the process will probably reverse and we will have global cooling leading to another ice age. To think that man's activities play anything but a very minor part in this process is simply an example of our exaggerated view of our own importance in the overall scheme of things.

John Sims, Leiston, Suffolk,

Science has documented proof of the fact that the earth has experienced weather cycles of dramatic proportions before humans even walked on the earth.

We still have to understand in as much as humans have some effect on the global weather patterns it is still very minimal in the whole scope of things.

Boomerang, Dickinson, ND

There is a great book by Michael Crichton - "State of Fear" that I suggest all you global warming nuts read. It's perhaps more fact than fiction. The argument over global warming is not over it's just begun.

Reguardless of the cause do we really want man to return to the stone age. is that the end of the evolutionary trail for mankind or should we continue moving forward and remedy problems that confront us using our technology?

Bob Kemmis, Scandia, MN

Which is it La Nina or mans contribution to pollution?. One minute climate changes are due to global warming whilst another minute they are due to natural causes. Take your pick!

Jon, Inverness, Scotland

Reducing waste is good, but almost certainly makes no difference to the weather or the climate. We're coming out of the mini-Ice Age, started in 1350 or so. That, and the Black Death, put paid to 1/4-1/3 of the population of Europe. Before that, circa 1000 AD, Leif Erikson was raised on the southern tip of Greenland in a colony of outcasts, who raised animals and grew crops in what is now an ice-covered wasteland. The earth doesn't need us to mess with the atmosphere. She messes with her own climate, as does the sun. We should abandon our grandiose ideas of our own power and just behave in a thrifty, sensible way. As for the Plasticene era, this could be a good thing in the future, as our distant ancestors mine the landfills for resources which, frankly, will run out sooner or later, whatever we do.

Alicia Geromel, Swartz Creek, MI, U.S.A.

Global Warming? Brought to by the people who can't tell you what the weather is going to be next week.

Dan Wolf, West Islip, USA / NY

Agree with JK of London and John of Cornwall,

Although I hail from the US--and I suppose this makes all US respondents closer to Neanderthal in nature with the more 'sophisticated' world-wise writers--it does seem as everyone has lost their moorings in common sense and bowed the knee to the priests of 'GLOBAL WARMING'. Gasp!

Is there ANYTHING involving weather that these religious Global Warming adherents CANNOT attach to this doomsday fad that OVER 55% (according to the latest poll) of the worlds true scientists DISAGREE with?

Increase in temperature, true. But different than the hundreds of years in the past? I think not. This is a very serious new religion (or syndrom) of the global warming fad.

Remembert 30 years ago Time Magazine had a COVER PAGE warning us that "all the world's weather scientists agree that the world is coming into a new Ice Age..."

Where has true perspective gone in people's lives? Most people think history started the day they were born.

Steve, , Washington, DC, USA

I'd be interested to hear what Mr McKenzie has to say about the many scientists who dispute Gore's hysteria on'global warming'. Presumably they don't count, because they don't have such an aggressive and self-serving PR campaign behind them.

Craig, Liverpool, UK

Just turn Global Warmming/Climate Change into a religion. Sorry it already is!!

Henry, Oxford, UK

Mark of London's comments about fat American SUV drivres shows more about his myopia and xenophobia than it does of his knowledge (or otherwise) of science. I'm just glad I don't have to share a city with him.

Craig, Liverpool, UK

is man capable of controlling something as large as a planets climate?

Christy, Leicester, UK

The biggest thing lacking in the "man-made global warming" debate is perspective. The perspective of geological time, to be exact. As someone said, weather is the visible climatic conditions over a short period of time, while climate is observable cycles over a longer period of time. But even that "longer" period of time is NOTHING in the context of the geologic time scale! If you really want to put this topic in context, first wrap your mind around the enormity of this planet's time scale---read the compelling and fascinating book "Rare Earth," for starters---then contemplate what a few months of drought or whatever actually means for the future of this planet.

Wills, Sacramento, CA

Green is the new Red.

Wesley, Tucson, Arizona

The Bible predicts massive climate change and cataclysmic events prior to the return of Christ. The collapse of social order and total control of a one world dictator is also predicted. All eyes on Israel. All prophecies culminate there in one way or another. The predictions of Christ's first advent were centered largely around Israel. Likewise the predictions of His second coming center around that area. Isn't it interesting that Israel was destroyed as a nation but was recreated after almost 2,000 years? This is very recent history (1948). Students of prophecy see this as very telling concerning the coming of Christ.

Ron, PITTSBURGH, Pa

Why do you care? You will all be 'raptured' (a completely ambiguous process fabricated from a letter sent by a priest I believe) while the rest of us are left to face the consequences.

Best start stock piling tins of beans huh?

Ian, London,

There is scientific evidence of a much smaller version of El Nino that occurs in the South Atlantic...I can only presume that we'll all see news of the catostrophic effects of that on world climate once those with agendas get wind of it and blow it all out of proportion.

Rick B, Somerset,

Does anyone remember the 70's when we were being told that we were heading for another ice age? We take such a pitifully short term view of the weather that I have no confidence in any predictions from either side of the global warming debate. However, my gut feel is that there are factors way beyond our control affecting climate and politicians are on the band-wagon only to win votes.

John, Guildford, Surrey

I also predict that global warming wll cause some of the most extreme moderate weather ever recorded. Any global warming deniers are heretics and should be deported to tropical siberia.

Jacques_usa1, New York, NY

Whats with all these US bible - bashers? These weather systems are fact. Nothing to do with Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed or anyone else you may care to worship.
Christopher Columbus comment is just ridiculous.....

tony, London, England

I agree with Miguel from Cambridge on the point about the earth changing, but after that I don't agree with anything else he says. The earth has been changing for eons, even when human life wasn't present upon it. To blame mankind for the climate change is crazy. The earth will continue to change no matter what mankind does. I'm all for conservation and being good stewards of our planet, but face it we can't predict what the weather will be next week with absolute accuracy. How can we predict what will occur over the next 100 years. Don't let Al Gore and the fear mongerers rule your life

Tony, Houston, TX/USA

If we had elected Al Gore we wouldn't have global warming. Katrina wouldn't have happened and the earth would be nice and cool now.

bob, new york, ny

What sensationalist nonsense - El Nino and La Nina cycles are a natural process that alternate every five to 10 years, having the greatest impact n South America and Australia - when one is moist, the other is in drought. Then El Nino turns to La Nina and one goes to drought while the other is moist.

El Nino and La Nina are not the result of human activity - so don't use human activity to interfere with the natural process.

Damian, London, UK

Here's something to think about as we consider climate science-W
We keep hearing that with the coming human-caused global warming, the seas will rise as the ice shelves and glaciers melt, drowning coastal areas.
Ice shelves and glaciers are floating on the water beneath them.
If I remember my grade-school science, when you do the little experiment with the ice cube that melts in the glass of water, the level of the water in the glass remains the same. It doesn't overflow the glass. I believe this was attributed to something called "displacement" or some such scientific-type palaver.
If that scientific principle holds true in any 5th grade classroom, why will driving an SUV, eating beef, or expelling methane into the atmosphere (oops, sorry) change it in the larger world ?
Is this what is meant by "scientific consensus" ?

Lizabeth, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Reading these coments I realize just how stupid humanity is...that's why we keep destroying our "house"! The earth is changing, and if you have any knowledge other than reading what the goverment or tabloids say to you, you will realize it! Open your eyes and use your brain! Maybe it's better to destroy the earth...at least all these ignorants will also go!

Miguel, Cambridge,

More scaremongering. The weather frequently changes, and is quite often nasty. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. We should concentrate on adapting to this fact.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Perhaps those people who have commented against the idea of global climate change should consider the following:

Human activity has, and remains to be, profligate when it comes to consuming resources. The side effects of which are generally to the detriment of the planet's natural order. It would only be for the good of all if we (as a species) took more care through reducing emissions (whatever their presumed effects on the environment) and recycling wherever it produces a benefit. It has been mooted that the geological record will, in the future, contain a marker horizon containing great amounts of plastic, a material we produced and discarded without thinking until relatively recently. Perhaps we could name it (in advance) the Plasticene.

Cliff Rigg, Lingdale, United Kingdom

The good thing about global warming, whether you believe it or not, is that we are learning a lot more about our planet, and of course lots of professors are very busy writing research proposals. We need this knowledge as more of the world moves into the industrial and post industrial age.

I enjoy reading the real science when it occasionally pops out of all the doom and gloom.

The iron seeding idea sounds great, not for the carbon, but for the increased fish harvests. The prevailing winds that blow off of the continents drop dust in the oceans and that provides the great fishing grounds off of Peru and New Foundland.

SparkyVA, Winchester, VA, USA

To Frank from Houston, Tx: Scientists in Columbus' day did not believe the world to be flat. Even in the time of Aristotle, who lived well over a thousand years before Columbus, scientists and philosophers knew that the earth was round.

As for the fat SUV driving Americans who refuse to accept the facts about climate change, I'm starting to think we are in a hopeless situation and I'm just glad I'll be dead before these idiots are left with no choice but to realise their mistakes.

Mark, London,

La Niña and El Niño have been an obvious fact of life for centuries and are simply another ingredient of an ever changing earth. Nothing the doomsayers utter can change this.

To attempt a stop global warming is futile. One might have a better chance to empty the Atlantic with a bucket.

We should be making every effort to cope with climate change and get politics out of what is a natural occuring event.

Grumpy , Austin, Texas

Self-important right wing nobodies might think they know more than thousands of scientific experts, but I prefer to put my trust in the latter. Global warming is caused by the actions of mankind, pumping millions of tonnes of greenhouses gases into the atmostphere. Arguments against are childish nonsense.
Yes the climate has changed in the past, but a) never at the frightening pace of now, and b) not in the lifetime of what we would call civilisation.

Will Duffay, London,

I am amazed that most of the comments here have been posted from the USA, and most of those deny anthropogenic global warming. Everybody's an expert, it seems, except the hundreds of scientists in the field of climatology who have been building up mountains of studies and statistics and observations for more than 30 years, leading them to the consensus that there is better than a 98% probability that human activity is responsible for global warming. Gore didn't make it up -- he's just getting the information out. For those who think humans beings can't possibly influence climate, it only takes a few ebola virus cells to make you really REALLY sick. There are billions of us running around like little viruses pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It doesn't take much to upset the balance.

F Mackenzie, Ottawa, Canada

Please.... Yes, there have always been variations in the world's climate. Yes, there were probably colder / hotter / wetter / drier times in the last thousand years.

The painfully obvious point (literally so for increasing numbers worldwide) is that these records and extremes are coming thick and fast - just in the UK, virtually every month or year is some kind of record breaker. Does this slew of records being broken seem normal in the context of how many years typically went by between records being set, say 300 years ago?

Here's another one. Imagine if humans suddenly arrived on a new planet, like Earth in every way except no humans had existed there before. Should those people a) make great efforts to develop the planet responsibly and sustainably, albeit at a restrained pace or b) burn everything that can burn and spray every available chemical everywhere chasing 5% extra "growth"? Try to step back and use perspective and you'll see an answer.

JK, London , UK

They bring up La Nina and connect it to global warming so they have a reason to blame everything on global warming. When it's too cold.... global warming... too hot, global warming,,, too much rain, global warming, etc. Ever wonder why the dire predictions are always 50-100 years out? The water levels will rise and flood half of Manhattan in 100 years. Most of us won't be around and there's no way to disprove the predictions. It's convenient for their lunacy.

John, Cornwall, Canada

Jackson,
You are correct that the US is something like 4.5% of the world's population. It also consumes about a third of the worlds energy resources and contributes about a third of its greenhouse gases. The science is in on global warming issue. it is happening. To throw one's hands in the air and say since we might not be able to stop it lets forget it is irresponsible,

S V Cleaves, Lima , Ohio

CO2 Causes Global Warming?

The real fundamental issue about global warming/climate change is "Does CO2 cause Global Warming?"
My answer is NO; which negates ALL other arguments, since humans are incapable of controlling any natural occurring climate change.
(1) There is no past historical scientific factual evidence and/or records that link CO2 as a ‘forcing factor’ or a cause of an increasing temperature rise climate warming period.
(a) There is scientific proxy evidence/data from past climate periods that reveal CO2 levels about 18 times greater than the CO2 levels present today; which were concurrent with non-rising temperatures equivalent of those present today.
(b) Some of the more recent proxy scientific data also reveals that CO2 levels LAG temperature increases by 800-2000 years; which is the equiv of 11-76 human generations, a very, very long time in human terms.

H Maier, Lynden, USA/WA

Greater minds than mine can't agree whether man has had any impact on climate change. The geological records show that there has been a cyclic pattern of global climate change, whether the result of a natural calamity (i.e. asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions, etc). I just have to laugh when reports like the one above come out warning that some areas will get colder and snowier in winter. Guess what? Snow and cold are usually associated with winter. It's funny how it works that way. Personally, I would recommend getting gas for the snow blower and getting some salt to melt the ice. Gloves, a hat and a good warm coat might also help. Relax, because winter will end when spring comes. Get a grip, folks. Maybe the unnecessary energy expended worrying about the climate might be used more constructively to solve problems we may acutally have an impact on.

Tim, Chicago, USA BABY!!!

Oh, oh! Neptune is also heating up. Heating seems to be observable throughout the solar system. Is it possible that the phenomenon of "heating" is a consequence of additional solar activity?

Xerxes! Where are King Canute's courtiers when you need them? Will our climate shamans be able to influence warming or cooling? By the way, a recent "study" has concluded that we are will enter a period of "global (of course) cooling."

The climate prognostication racket has resulted in directing research grants to those who cosy up with the politicians. If you want to determine the source of a political agenda, cherchez l'argent. I suppose climate study folk should at least acquire a minor in political science.

Johnson, USA,

Paul,

I couldn't agree with you more... it is especially troubling that the U.S. is blamed for all of this global warming because the U.S. won't sign-on to the Kyoto Protocol -- even though our polution regulations are among the most stringent in the world, if not the most stringent (proof: the polution requirements for diesel cars in the U.S. are 20 times more strict than in most other parts of the world)

Dave, Seattle, WA

La Nina can't "wreck" the weather --- it DRIVES the weather. And the results differ all over.

If the UK had a bad summer that's not unusual. In "I am a Walrus" John Lennon wrote:" If the sun don't come
you get a tan from standing in the English rain." 40 years ago HE at least was used to crappy, soggy English summers, as well as the air pollution.(but I'm sure if he were alive today he would be bleating about "global warming" - after all, he's the guy who released "Imagine" into an unsuspecting world!)

Here in New England we had a glorious summer --- not many really hot days, not too humid, perfect nights. Thank you, La Nina!!!

Jack, boston, usa

Check the Bible and the Old Testament story of Joseph ... 7 lean years, 7 fat years... souunds like El Nino, La Nina to me...

Bruce, New Orleans, LA, USA

When viewing quotes about "global warming," remember that figures don't lie, buy liars can figure.
Phyl, Florida

Phyllis Mudgett, Newberry, Florida

Exactly Oliver. I am so tired about climate change. The United States is approximately 4.5% of the worlds population. Yet everyone is running around screaming we are the ones who need to change to stop it. The other nations that are trying to attain our lifestyle at no cost will be to blame. Why don't the Hollywood bobble heads educate themselves and go lobby the real culprits. I just hear crap that comes out of their mouths. Nobody preaching gas conservation. That would cut into the politicians tax revenue. It's going to get worse before it gets worse. You xurbers with your 30 to 60 mile commutes are the biggest dupes. Moved outside the cities for low land prices and taxes. The oil companies will never take you off the barrel. Didn't you learn about supply and demand in economics class? Like 4.5% of the worlds pop are going to tell the oil companies what to do. We dug this hole now live with it. I jumped around but wanted to give the ala carte to please people on both sides.

paul, green bay, wisconsin, usa

I'm still waiting for the "New Ice Age" that was predicted about 10 years or so ago.

Les Green, Jefferson City, Mo

La Nina is a normal and natural event. What it has to do with "global warming" is difficult to tell.

In any event, alternating periods of global warming and cooling have occurred throughout the history of the earth. There was once a time when tropical or sub-tropical plants lived not far from the north pole. It may or may not be that we are entering a period of warming, but should it be that we are that does not require the conclusion that we have caused it. What is more, global warming could have positive consequences. Climate change is normal.

Even if it could be irrefragibly demonstrated that human activity has cause some degree of global warming, it is not likely that we have the means to stop it or reverse it. And even if we did, we are hardly capable enough to know what horror that might result in.

The fact of the matter is that we have a vast attempt to seize control of nearly every aspect of human existence. We used to call this despotism.

John, Jackson,

Global weather patterns and trends have always been variable but now events affect more people and businesses so we get to hear more about them. Communications today also make this possible on a global scale. If the world's climate was too stable and weather to unfluctuating, flora and forna would be less able to cope with changes so that any 'unusual' event would have even more catostraphic consequences. There is a silver lining to dark clouds so whether humans have an effect on climate or not isn't really that relevent. Changes will occur regardless and contribute to diversity.

Jeff, Palmerston North, New Zealand

How about a lesson in the proper usage of words...?

In science, the word theory is used when something is accepted as fact.

In everyday life, theory means a guess (usually educated but not always.)

Lets start talking the same language and maybe we can get somewhere.

Brian W, Memphis, TN, USA

I knew if I drove my truck a few more miles then last year I could have a better snow season this year.

tom, Santa Cruz, USA

The world's weather would be just perfect if not for mankind. Before us there were never any problems, no dramatic temperature shifts, CO2 up, CO2 down, just ask any dinosaur

B Donohue, Roxbury , NJ

I have yet to understand why there is an argument about global warming or whether or not it is man made. To me this is a pointless argument. Personally I am still on the fence, but if we assume for a minute that it is man made, and act on it, the benefits of doing so have so many upsides and relativley small downsides that it seems to be very naive to even have this argument. If we did the things that the global warming alarmists would like us to do (like stop burning oil) we end up much better off regardless of whether they are right or wrong. I think we should find alternatives fuels not because of warming but because of the geopolitical turmoil it causes. But if you want to do it because of CO2, fine welcome to the team. But if you arguing that there is no global warming, therefore we should continue business as usual. I am afraid you have missed the bigger picture. Iraq, Iran etc all become irrelevant very quickly if we no longer need what they have to offer.

will, Baton Rouge, LA

As a born and raised American citizen, all I can tell the world is, please help!!! This country is being taken over by insane Christo-fascist's, who, not so secretly believe that we are in "end days". Hence, no reason to conserve anything!! It would not matter, except the above mentioned insane Christo-fascists control 20,000 nuculear weapons, and think that the planet is 5,000 years old. And make no mistake about it, to maintain our wastefull lifestyle we will do whatever it takes. See Iran in case you have any doubts about that.

Art Dabney, Long Beach, WA

When did we deem ourselves omnipotent and all powerful that we can/should/want to control the weather? Just ain't so folks.

SM, Omaha, Nebraska

Aha! So this explains the hundreds of hurricanes the experts predicted two years ago! Oh, but there weren't any? COuld they have been wrong?

Kevin, Cedar Falls, Iowa USA

Global warming happens here every 1,500 years, and it happened right through the ice ages too.

The libs and Darwinsists will keep trying to explain things in whatever manner they can, to their minds. I hope they buy enough of Gore"s "carbon offsets" to keep him and themselves happy.

The temperature has also been rising on Mars and the other planets too, even if none of the alarmists have noticed. And none of it happened because of my SUV.

What really worries me is that so many people are compelled to believe there is a link of causation between what little effect man has on the ball of rock we call home against the larger galactic forces that actually do change our climate.

Unless we nuke ourselves into oblivion we can't make it hotter or colder here, even if we wanted to. And it is the epitomy of concietedness to think that we are responsible for any of the "global warming" that has occured.

Sometimes reality isn't what it seems to be.--Yogi Berra

John W. Hopper, McAfee, USA/New Jersey

La Nina is obviously caused by Global Warming. We must stop destroying Mother Earth

Buffy, San Jose, CA

What many of the Global Warming Stooges keep conveniently forgetting is that Hurricane Katrina was only a CAT3 hurricane when it hit the New Orleans area. The real man-made disaster wasn't global warming, but the fact that Stooges built a city that was below sea level right by the coast along with a very weak levee to protect the city.

Rosario, Boston, USA

Peak Oil? Looks like we are all going to meet our Kyoto targets whether we want to or not. All the Global Warming alarmists should be pleased.

J. A. Jauregui, Woodbridge, VA

I just have to say about water vapor, again: I've heard so many more convicing arguements about Water Vapor than CO2. Water Vapor, and more of it in the air, tends to make our air warmer as it takes longer for our sun rays to exit our atmosphere. There is SO much more water vapor in the atmosphere than CO2. Why does no one talk about it? Maybe nothing can be done about water vapor. Perhaps you can't trade it on an open market like carbon credits. There's no international treaty regarding it. WAter vapor affects our climate much more drastically (for good and bad) than CO2 ever could. But no one talks about it. Interesting.

Not that I know any more than the next guy...I'm just sayin'.

Jenny Bea, Stamford, CT

Peak Oil? Looks like we'll all be meeting our Kyoto targets whether we plan to or not. Global Warming alarmists must be pleased with this new (taboo) crisis. Though, maybe not, if it negates ofrovershadows their "Climate Change" agenda.

J. A. Jauregui, Woodbridge, VA

Its not La Nina, its Bush's fault. Everything is.

Fred, New Providence, NJ, JSA

Disconcerting to read some of the comments from the United States.

How is it that Americans, with access to all the scientific studies and published data in the world, are still able to reach conclusions that are so at odds with the overwhelming majority of evidence?

I suppose in a culture in which the majority still consider evolution to be a "theory" we should expect nothing less.





CDP, London, Greater London

Dear CDP, just because you say the evidence is overwhelming doesn' t make it so.
And if you took the time to study it, evolution is still yet a theory. There is no empirical evidence that proves its true.
You might as well blame Bush. Look what he did in New Orleans.

Fred, New Providence, NJ, USA

How many remember the impact the eruption of Mount Toba had on global climate? Or how about the impact Krackatoa had. Mother nature creates more climate changes than mankind does.

Steve Lodahl, Helena, MT

How are floods in some parts of the planet and dought in others different from any other time? The very people who embrace evolution as not just a theory but as Truth are alarmed that conditions on Earth change. Get a grip, guys.

Oliver Montgomery, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA

Water evaporates on land absorbing heat. It convects upwards to several thousand kilometers then condenses - that change of state back to liquid radiates the very heat it had collected at the surface - but at an altitude well above 90% of the CO2 layer. It's clear to me, CO2 does NOT drive climate change. Explain the "Medieval Warming Period" and WHAT in the world is so 'green' about those who say plants should have LESS of what they thrive upon? "The Great Global Warming Swindle" ... YEP!

Mike, Boston, USA/Massachusetts

Dr. Jame Gregg said:

>Indeed, mathematical calculations of the effect of CO2
>alone, means DOUBLE the CO2 we have now is required
>to generate a 1C increase in temps. This is FACT.

Ummmm, no that's not a "FACT," that is by your own description that is a calculation, but that in no way raises it to a "fact."

Nice to know that you agree global warming is real. Now how about Peak Oil?

Dr. Gregg Silk , Cary , NC

I have seen charts tracing El Nino/La Nina events back into the 1500s. I guess the human-caused global warming had (or will have) such a major effect that it tore (or will tear) a hole in the space-time continuum and that affected events 500 years ago.

Nick Andrelli, Alexandria, Va USA

It amazes me that so many people don't get it. READ THE BIBLE people, understand it. Calamities, droughts, floods, pestilence, major disasters are and will continue to happen. they will continue to get worse, not better. this is predicted and spelled out in the Bible. Getting ready for the Lords second coming. Believe it or not, he will come, there is no doubt about it.

Doug H, Roy, Utah

How sad to see humankind regress from learned observation and extrapolation to petty politics and self-interest in the name of science. Like astronomy, climatology is an observational science based on applied physics and mathematics. Unfortunately we know more about what occurs millions of light years away than we do about our own planet -- why? because astrophysics has been free of political/sociological bias. It is time for geophysics to do the same. There have been and always will be self interested charlatans with a Ph.D after their name .... we just need to see them for what they are, someone trying to make a buck.

MJ, San Diego, CA

In the great global warming debate, everyone is ignoring the real problem; overpopulation. If there were less of us, we wouldn't have to live in areas vulnerable to the weather (like the suburbs of New Orleans, or other lowland coastal areas). And our contributions to the atmosphere would be less, whether they affect global warming trends or not. Until we get a handle on the main problem, these disasters, ecological and otherwise, are going to continue, whatever the weather.

RJ, Angelus Oaks, CA

These cooling, drought, flooding and La Nina effects are all forecast by natural cyclic changes in solar activity, the number one driver of our planet's climate and weather. We can expect a general cooling trend over the next several years, which will exacerbate the impact of the real global problem, Peak Oil -- a problem politicians, academics and the media aren't about to discuss publically. Pay a tax, change the weather? Not on your life. "People are responsible for Global Warming" is the most outrageous hoax of all time.

Jack Castle, Notus, ID

Whomever is ragging on U of Alabama--Huntsville does not know two of its atmospheric scientists, Roy Spencer and John Christy, are among the most decorated of american meteorologists, and winners of multiple awards for their research on climate change. And, indeed, Spencer just published a paper in Geophysical Research Letters that virtually proved that the atmospheric sensitivity to carbon dioxide is about half of what it was thought to be. FWIW, I have a paper coming out in Journal of Geophysics-Atmospheres next month that will show that the true warming in the temperature record is about half of what it was thought to be. So all of this fits very neatly.

Patrick Michaels, Waynesboro, VA

La Nina is a phenomenon that has been around a lot longer than global warming alarmism and will be around a lot longer than global warming alarmism will last too. Global warming is occurring but everyday more evidence points to natural causes and not man-made causes. Indeed, mathematical calculations of the effect of CO2 alone, means DOUBLE the CO2 we have now is required to generate a 1C increase in temps. This is FACT. What has happened is the same thing that happened in the 70s when a coming ice age was pushed and by the same person who screams global warming now, Dr. James Hansen (read his 1971 paper on the coming ice age). He couldn't sell a panic of global cooling so he's selling a panic of global warming. Not to mention the corrections made to his temperature data negates the increases we have been told have occurred since 1930. Anthropogenic global warming is more political agenda than science and people are starting to realize it.

Dr. James Gregg, Huntsville, AL, USA

Ice age coming!!!!!!!!!!
Amway will set you free!!

Bob, Baltimore,

The above comments truly show what a very very poor school system we now have in the US of A. With all of the truthful info out there, the religous right still wants to bury it's head in the sand, cover their ears with their hands,saying "la-la-la-la: over and over again to drowned out anything other than the sorry dogma spewing out of their narrow-minded churches and W's govert stooges.

Wake up people - it really is almost too late, both emtities are lying through their teeth and you just blindly moove in lockstep with what you are told. The kids nowadays have a word they use when they speak about you. " Sheeple"
Think about it!


L.Kotowicz, Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan

L Kotowicz, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

Oh my goodness. The world is coming to an end! Cats and dogs are living togetther. Run for your lives.
Or maybe not . The writer knows that this article will be forgotten in the very likely event that all remains relatively calm. Remember how last year was supposed to be the worst hurricane season ever? Never happened.

steve, Norfolk, Nebraska, USA

la nina is not a man made event. It is part of a natural cycle.

Man made global warming is a sad hoax that will prove itself to be NOTHING in the years ahead

jimbo Ellis, Carson City, NV, USA

An ever increasing percentage of the world's population accepts the fact that man does not have the power to affect global climate change. That same percentage will not accept running businesses into the ground and the associated calamity of joblessness, people without health insurance, and poverty caused by socialistic/environmentalist schemes.

Mike Thomas, Durham,

The fact that a given explanation is a 'theory' does not make the underlying phenomena any less real

Kevin Jones, Cheltenham , UK

Wow! this is the most absurd thing I have heard in quite a while. One thing you left out about Newton and his "theory of Gravity" There is a "LAW OF GRAVITY" Scientific theories are nothing more than that, just theories. If there was any more to them they would be laws. Your answer is by your own definition a theory, and is therefore nothing more than opinion. So in the words of the "Dude" "that's just like, your opinion, man"

Know the theories, but Study the Laws, You don't learn how to spot counterfeit money by only studying counterfeit money. Learn the truth and the lies will jump out at you.

Jack, Asheville , NC

I live by the Gulf of Mexico. Ive been in both hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. It wasnt until 2 days before they hit that the forcasters could tell where it would come ashore. What I learned is that a weather pattern 2000 miles away can affect something as strong as a hurricane. While people point the finger at the USA because we have Bush or science we have to contend with massive clouds of pollution from China which drift with dust storms across the Pacific to our West Coast. Its seems to me that europe gives a pass to anyone with "Peoples Repubic" in their name. The USA has seen alot of nonsense come out of Europe over the years. From nazis to communism we have had to cross the pond to deal with it. In the 70's it was a coming ice age, now its global warming. In all of these issues politics mixed with science to blame man. Science also says we are in a peak solar cycle and the other planets are heating up as well. Now we trade Carbon Credits? Amazing.

William Carson, Loxley, Alabama, USA

This just in... the weather changes every day! News flash ...man adapts to his climate! ....why are leftist
politicians pushing global warming? To raise taxes !
Al Gore claimed that "Love Story" was about him and Tipper>
LIE... Al Gore claimed he invented the internet> LIE.
Man can not change one afternoon thunderstorm in Florida.
How can man change the weather on the planet? Do any of you leftist human haters remember the "scientific method"?
So any politician that says the debate(when was this debate lol) is over is using science, political science. However I have hedged my bet. If the global warming loonies ever do get their way I will sell them carbon offset credits! LOL you stupid libs would be funny if you weren't so dangerous.

David, IR Beach, Florida

There is not a single person on here who has said they think that Global warming is not real, why do people continue to say there are? You are getting confused with "Man-made global warming" and "global warming" two very different things.

The problem i have (and many others - more every day) is that the earth has been warming and cooing for millions of years - we know this is fact, and has been doing so at different rates throughout the history of this planet, again this is fact.

We were in an ice-age, the earth got warmer - in fact the earth has been much warmer than it is now. We have got a big problem ahead, nobody denies that, but when the government stop using it as an excuse to tax us more and when the loonies stop using it as an excuse to halt progress then we can all start to figure out a way to deal with the issue cos we certainly aint gonna solve it. The earth will go on with or without us, it always has done It is arrogant to assume that we are the cause of change.

Gary, Brisbane, QLD

La Nina and El Nino are just natural phenomena relating to oceanic circulation. There is a reasonable amount of literature suggesting that they have effects on Atlantic weather patterns as well as those in the southern Pacific.

One thing to consider is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO).This represents a phase shift every 30ish years, from El Nino dominated (warmer) to La Nina dominated (colder) conditions. The last change was 1976-77, which can be seen in a step change warming in temperatures around the western americas. There is some evidence that this change to La Nina may also represent a shift back to the colder phase of the PDO (following a weaker than forcast El Nino last winter).

Combine this with a sun spot cycle late starting and likely to be of low intensity, and we live in interesting times for potential natural cooling of the climate. Be interesting to see if anthropogenic forcings are as dominant as some models suggest. Answers in the next few years...

Dr Ian Blanchard, St Albans, UK

"..with devastating floods striking some parts of the world while severe droughts afflict other regions..." Got to be the funniest line I have read in a while.
Do people really think that the weather should always be mild?

pappy, huntsville, USA

attempts to promote the validity of mainstream climate science through a slippage from 'weather' to 'climate' (therefore all climate science is valid) is sophism, also.

walter davis, muskogee, ok

All these talks about climate change are nothing but a lot of hot air and wind! Actually there is nothing to worry about we human beings will weather the storm come wind or high water!

Wing, Poole, UK

Short of mass amounts of fissionable detonation, the mere idea that "man" can affect the climate in either a negative or positive fashion to such a degree that the planet can not recuperate is honestly the ultimate in arrogance and braggadocio on the part of the fleas that pass for "humans".

This planet can, and most certainly will, if necesssary, shake "humans" off like a bad infestation long before any permanent damage can be wrought by the so-called "superior species".

The planet counts time in ages and cycles far, far beyond the grasp of simple "human" minds and their attendant short lifespans.

"Global Warming" caused by man burning fossil fuels?

Really?

Where were all of these "fossil fuels" being burned when the Norse were farming a thawed-out Greenland?

Where were the SUVs and factories when the uncovered shoreline of the Antartic continent was mapped so very long ago?

Really, some people will believe anything if it is parroted enough by those withan agenda.

John Gaskill, Lakeland, Florida

A consensus of scientists in Christopher Columbus's day also that that the world was flat.

Frank, Houston, Tx

The Bible predicts massive climate change and cataclysmic events prior to the return of Christ. The collapse of social order and total control of a one world dictator is also predicted. All eyes on Israel. All prophecies culminate there in one way or another. The predictions of Christ's first advent were centered largely around Israel. Likewise the predictions of His second coming center around that area. Isn't it interesting that Israel was destroyed as a nation but was recreated after almost 2,000 years? This is very recent history (1948). Students of prophecy see this as very telling concerning the coming of Christ.

Ron, PITTSBURGH, Pa

Hide the children from more propaganda from the far-left nannies and the pseudo-science of Al Gore. Conservation is one thing but government rule by over-taxation based on the absence of science and facts is over the top. Money is power so when the liberals donate all of theirs to the causes they would have us pay for, then I will start paying attention.

Janice M., Port Murray, USA/New Jersey

"Darwin's Theory of Evolution" well yes! As in "Einstein's Theory of Relativity" or "Newton's Theory of Gravity" or "Quantum Theory"

If you think something being a theory makes it wrong then you don't understand the meaning of the word theory as it is used in science.

Gravity is real. Our theories of gravity try and explain why it is the way it is, and try to provide mechanisms by which we can measure gravity and use it (space flight anyone?)

Evolution is real. Darwin's theory, along with the numerous changes, corrections and updates over the years try to explain why and how evolution happens.

The fact that a given explanation is a 'theory' does not make the underlying phenomena any less real

Kevin Jones, Cheltenham , UK

The 'weather' is the visible status of the atmosphere at any one time. An average of these everyday weather events over the long term determines what we could be called its 'climate'. Hence it can rain in a desert for three days in a row without the climatic conditions (eg. aridity) changing and your prediction that it probably won't rain would still be largely correct. The meterological system is complex, highly variable and difficult to predict, however the climate is predictable enough that we have words to describe the seasons - summer, autumn, spring, winter.
Attempts to raise doubts on the validity of mainstream climate science through a slippage from 'weather' ('we can't predict the weather in three days time') to 'climate' (therefore all climate science is spurious) is sophism.

Prescott del Mondo, Pine Creek, NT

As an ever increasing percentage of the world's population accepts the fact of man made global climate change,caused by our dependence on all oil related products(from fuels to house paint},so will that same percentage accept ever increasing oil related pricing and oil company profit taking.

spencer, kitchener, canada

The forecasters where I live can't even predict the weather three days in advance. And weren't there supposed to be all kinds of severe hurricanes last season? What happened to them?

Ryan, Saint Paul, Minnesota

I'm waiting for an expert to blame La Nina on human activity. When will people realize that we have no say over climate? Nature is nature, and will have its way, regardless of man's vanity.

Doug L., Lehigh Acres, FL

Check out the numpties posting on this site? 'I don't believe in climate change because we had record rains in California...' I don't believe in climate change because the Antarctic has record amounts of ice'.
Huh?

Mathew , Newcastle, Australia

Whatever the cause, weather patterns are changing.