Scientists say 2007 may be warmest yet
Well, I realize picking on headline writers is barrelfishing at its easiest, but "yet" and "recorded" are two entirely different things. For Summer '07 to be the hottest ever, both polar ice caps would have to melt and Antarctica would have to be covered in forests. Like it once was. And like Greenland once was.
Back when it was much hotter than it is now.
But, admittedly, before there were much in the way of scientists to sit there and record it.
And, oddly enough, when there weren't nearly so many factories or airplanes or evil Republican anti-Earthers.
None of this to say that the climate's not changing, or that if it is, man plays no part in it--only that it's been both a whole lot colder and hotter in the past, and hysterical hand-flapping humans probably aren't quite as big a factor in those changes as some in the media or various Gaia's advocacy groups might like us to believe.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at January 4, 2007 02:19 PM