Sen. Klobuchar has a real ding-dong challenger - climate change caused by sun, not humans

[progree]

Last edited Sat Aug 25, 2018, 07:31 PM - Edit history (2)

Ding ding da-ding.

GOP Senate Candidate: Blame The Sun For Climate Change, Not Humans, Huffington Post, 8/25/18

Minnesota state Rep. Jim Newberger (R) cited a long-debunked theory on the sun’s role in climate change while flipping his stance on the issue during a Friday debate with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D), whom he hopes to unseat in the November midterm election.

“Do I believe in climate change? Yeah, I do,” Newberger said, contradicting a response he gave to a Minnesota CBS affiliate late last month. At the time, when asked plainly whether he believed in climate change, Newberger said no. His campaign website does not mention the issue.

“Do I believe it’s man-made?” he continued, “No, I do not. Climate change, the No. 1 factor is the sun. We cannot change how the sun operates.”

According to NASA ― which addresses the sun theory clearly on its website under the headline “Is the sun to blame?” ― the sun is, in fact, not to blame. Satellite readings of the sun’s energy output, or solar irradiance, measured since the late 1970s indicate a slight drop, indicating the sun can’t account for the warming trend observed over recent decades.

More: https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-senate-candidate-blame-sun-153925406.html

[Turbineguy]

1. So what we really need

is a really BIG 2nd Ammendment so we can shoot the Sun.

[progree]

2. If all 7 billion people in the world fired their guns into the air at the same time ...

it would blot out the sun for a few precious seconds.

Well I suppose on average half of humanity will be shooting into the night sky -- should wait for a full moon ...

Arrows would work better like in the movies.

[progree]

3. Here's how moronic it can get - these are Minnesotans (sigh)

(Context: a discussion of a planned light rail in Minneapolis to some western suburbs on a Facebook page dominated by righties)

All underlining below is added by me

CAT> We are going to be inundated with climate refugees from our own country. We have a fairly stable environment, a huge number of Fortune 500 companies, and a high standard of living. I am not a fan of this solution, but we do need to start making plans for more and more people move here. We need more low income housing, more realistic transportation options (self driving electric cars for one) and more flexibility of how people can work at home.
14 Replies

Jason> Lol. "Climate Refugees"??

Dan> Lol

CAT> Yes, climate refugees. Where do you think the people of the gulf coast states will head when their land is under water? Florida? East Coast? West Coast? The Dust bowl and tornado alley? Wildfire country? They'll be looking to go somewhere stable. So laugh all you want, we're going to be seeing more and more people coming from areas that can no longer support them.

Donna> 🙄. Cat, about 10,000 years ago, the earth experienced an ice-age. There was frozen water and glaciers throughout the world. When the ice melted, (remember there were no cars and factories emitting carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere back then to be blamed for the melting ice), there was no flooding or catastrophic event. In fact, life flourished after the ice age. Please, as an expert on climate change, enlighten the readers here how you explain this?

CAT> I am not claiming to be an expert on anything except observation. If you don't see that extreme weather is causing more and more problems along the coasts, then you're just not paying attention. My point is we are going to be getting more and more people to our area. End of discussion on my part.

Donna> Extreme weather always was and always will be. It's called "nature". It has nothing to do with man-made anything. Climate change, which used to be called "global warming" until science proved this title was incorrect, is nothing more than a scare tactic to make shysters like Al Gore very wealthy. I welcome you to do your research Cat. That's the end of discussion on my part.

Jason> Donna, we should be more worried about the Tax Refugees heading to SD..

Richard> Cat, Easy way to prove melting glaciers won't flood the world..... fill a glass with ice cubes and water.... will the glass overflow when the ice melts?

John> Richard, The glaciers and ice they are worried about melting are the ones on land -- Greenland and Antarctica primarily. Their melting is already raising sea levels, along with warmer temperatures which causes water to expand.

John> Donna, 16 of the last 17 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. Atmospheric CO2 levels are nearly 50% higher than 150 years ago (CO2 is a greenhouse gas).

John> Donna, "Climate change, which used to be called "global warming" until science proved this title was incorrect,"

   Both terms are used. "Climate change" is the more general term because more than just warming is happening, e.g. more frequent severe storms, ocean acidification (due to higher CO2 levels, some of which is absorbed by the ocean), and coral bleaching. And no, "science" didn't prove that "global warming" is incorrect. Only a flat-earther type denies that significant warming is occurring. What is arguable is how much is due to human activity, although there is an overwhelming consensus about that by climate scientists. An ideolog yammering away on talk radio is not a scientist. Nor is a biostitute.

John> If you don't believe the temperature measurements, there are plenty of other indicators that warming is occuring --
Looking for signs of global warming? It's all around you , AP, 6/19/18
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/06/19/climate-change-signs-all-around

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I have to laugh at this in particular -- what an idiot. Doesn't watch Nova I guess where ice dams holding back massive lakes of ice melt water broke, submerging whole regions in a few hours.

When the ice melted, (remember there were no cars and factories emitting carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere back then to be blamed for the melting ice), there was no flooding or catastrophic event

.

[LakeSuperiorView]

7. Donna and Richard need to explain the Black Sea Flood.

and what oceans the worlds glaciers sit in. Glaciers on land are not floating, therefore ice cube in a glass is not valid. Ask them to put a 5 Lb. ice block on their table and see if there is any flooding.

[progree]

4. A transcript of a 6 minute video - I highlight evidence that global warming is human-caused

I'm highlighting in the below just the parts that indicate humans are the cause of most of it. Part of the evidence is just the speed that it is occurring at -- e.g. warming is 10 times faster than when coming out of an ice age.

Climate Science: What You Need To Know, published December 2014

The below "transcript" is entirely my work listening to it on mostly a once-through basis. I indicate the APPROXIMATE time of each paragraph in mm:ss.

The informative part starts at 1:00

CO2 in the atmosphere has increased about 40% since 1790.

1:35: Since 1970, when warming increase has been fastest, solar activity has been declining (graph shows solar activity increasing for about 5 years -- 1970-1975 -- and then declining to a little below its 1970 level.

1:45: If the sun was to blame, it would heat the upper and lower atmospheres. Instead we see warming only in the lower layer -- the layer affected by the greenhouse gasses.

2:10: studying trapped gasses in ice cores, CO2 levels are the highest in nearly a million years (the graph has "800,000 years ago on it" and ~190 ppm. It's about 410 ppm now)

2:20: Earth is warming at about 10X the rate as at the end of an ice age.

2:35: How do we know the increased CO2 levels is our fault? Answer: by looking at the isotope composition of CO2 in the atmosphere. Plants prefer aborbing CO2 with carbon 12 in it instead of carbon 13. So when plants are burned (by way of burning fossil fuels), the ratio of carbon 12 CO2 levels to carbon 13 CO2 levels increase -- and that's exactly what we see in the atmosphere.

2:58: and it's not volcanic activity producing the CO2 -- volcanic activity produces only about 0.2 gigatons/year of CO2 -- about 1% of what humans do ( approximately 35 gigatons / year ).

3:10: Other greenhouse gasses are increasing including methane from farm animals and natural gas processing, and nitrous oxide from fertilizer,

Climate models in the absence of increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere predict cooling, and that is definitely NOT what's happening.

3:40: Each decade of the last 3 decades has been warmer than any other decade since we started measuring temperatures in the 1850s.

3:42: Since 1900 temperatures have increased almost a full degree (centigrade), and most of that warming has occured since 1970.

3:50 Looking at tree rings and ice cores, the last 3 decades is probably the warmest in 8 centuries.

4:00: Oceans absorb about 90% of the heat added to the planet. Ocean temperatures are rising -- average sea level is rising at about 0.1" per year ... ocean levels on average have risen 8 inches since 1901 (due to water expanding as it warms, plus melting of ice that is on land).

4:30: about CO2 increased concentrations in ocean causing ocean acidification and affecting marine life with shells. We're on course to hit PH 7.8 in the oceans in 100 years -- which could wipe out 1/3 of ocean species.

4:45: Levels of summer sea ice in the Arctic have decreased 40% since 1978 .. they might be at the lowest levels in 1400 years. That white ice surface reflects a lot of sunlight back into space. The dark sea water that is replacing it absorbs much more of the sun's energy (thus adding to global temperature -- a vicious cycle -- heat melts ice causing more dark ocean surface area absorbing more heat which melts more ice ... ).

5:00: With current CO2 increase trends, earth is on course to be 2.6 - 4.8 deg C warmer (4.7 - 8.6 deg F) in 100 years ... and oceans 1 meter higher.

5:20: The last time earth was only a few degrees colder, most of North America was covered in an ice sheet. So what will happen when temperatures are a few degrees warmer? We're going to have a bad time.

[2naSalit]

5. K&R!

[progree]

6. 😂😂😂 n/t

[progree]

8. Feckless Fuckhead (Jeff Johnson) joins Ding Dong (Jim Newberger)

Jeff Johnson's climate policy: do nothing, MPRNews, 8/23/18

Republican candidate for governor Jeff Johnson believes climate change is happening, but he doesn't want to do anything about it.

..."There is a consensus that the plans are out there to deal with climate change somehow aren't going to change anything in the long run. They just won't make a difference. Even if we do it on a nationwide scale, but if we do it on a statewide scale, even less so," he said in the debate with DFL candidate Tim Walz.

Johnson went on to say climate change legislation is costly to people and politicians who promote such laws do so because they believe it's "the right thing to do," despite it being ineffective. He did not specify the legislation to which he was referring.

"We have to end that era of making decisions that hurt people because it makes politicians look good or feel good," Johnson said.

More: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/08/23/jeff-johnson-minnesota-governor-climate-change