Evidence

I have repeatedly stated that I do not argue with the following - Holocaust deniers (which should be obvious); those who deny natural evolution by means of natural selection (as modified in the 1950's and, later, the 1980's); and those who deny the reality of Global Warming. Like arguing over the color of grass or the date of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it serves no purpose to argue with people who simply deny facts.

In an effort at magnanimity (the literal meaning of which is "large souledness", that is, the state of being generous in one's being and person), I thought I'd share a report on actual scientific evidence - from the United States Geological Survey still under the thumb of the Bush Administration - that Global Warming is still not a good thing.

The United States faces the possibility of much more rapid climate change by the end of the century than previous studies have suggested, according to a new report led by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The survey -- which was commissioned by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and issued this month -- expands on the 2007 findings of the United Nations Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change. Looking at factors such as rapid sea ice loss in the Arctic and prolonged drought in the Southwest, the new assessment suggests that earlier projections may have underestimated the climatic shifts that could take place by 2100.

One of the most fun aspects of this article is the explicit explanation of the difference between science and the Global Warming deniers - the use of (Duh!) the scientific method. That is to say, the article explains that the new estimates are based both on new evidence, and new ways of understanding certain dynamics that were unknown or underappreciated before.

Konrad Steffen, who directs the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and was lead author on the report's chapter on ice sheets, said the models the IPCC used did not factor in some of the dynamics that scientists now understand about ice sheet melting. Among other things, Steffen and his collaborators have identified a process of "lubrication," in which warmer ocean water gets in underneath coastal ice sheets and accelerates melting.(emphasis added)

I realize this article, just like every other bit of real science, will run up against the brick wall of the minds of Global Warming Deniers, but that's OK. See, they don't run things anymore, and for a while can be both safely ignored, and laughed at for the goobers they really are.

Don't argue with them. Just point and laugh.