Al Gore and Prince Charles please stop giving me things to write about

This is a plea to bring a legitimate debate about Global Warming..better yet, Climate Change to the table.   In all honesty, that is the crux of this topic.  Mr. Gore says, " The science is in and the debate is over", yet literally thousands of scientists have signed petitions and have scientific evidence to the contrary. There is no consensus.

Last week however, The Scripps Institute of Oceanography gave an award to Al Gore for his environmental work.  I was hesitant to touch this story since Scripps owns my TV station WMAR.  However, the San Diego News Examiner did write a story about this that you can read. 

Previous Reports to the Contrary

I recently wrote two articles in January that stirred up a lot controversy.  First, Oceans are cooling according to NASA pointed out that two scientists were surprised with their data and tried to explain the cooling.  The plot thickened when people suggested that I did not cite the full report with the flaw in their measurements.  Then I followed up with Ocean cooling follow up with Antarctic warming AND cooling reports.  There was a clear stabilization, or cooling, of the oceans after 'smoothing' the data.  This does not fit the Global Warming Theory.

What about the arctic sea ice? It's recovering. Check out these story links below. 

Arctic sea ice returns to 1979 levels.

Arctic sea ice underestimated by 193,000 square miles.

Al Gore's new award can sit along side the Nobel Peace Prize and Academy Award for The Inconvenient Truth on his mantel piece, but there will be many of us that argue the connection to Oceanography based on the hard science.  I think the sweetest prize of all is still sitting out there.  It's beyond the scope of a Tiger Woods trophy case, and more rewarding.  Here is my proposal. Why not hold a formal debate with some of the leading scientists who have the opposing view on Climate Change?  These are the scientists who blame natural forces and do not want to waste money on issues that are out of our control.  This would no doubt capture a very large audience, and if legitimately convincing, would quiet the 'naysayers'.  I would stand in unison if such a convincing performance was displayed.  After refusing to debate for years, Mr. Gore was recently offered a similar proposal at a Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics forum.  Watch him 'dodge' debate again:

Pick a number and stick with it!

Oh, but there are others that want to be at the forefront. Doubters get labeled as right wing extremists who are bought and paid for by oil companies.  Um, I haven't seen my check yet. (Watch the video of what happens to scientists who openly doubt man-made Global Warming here .)  But, there are plenty of agenda-driven government scientists on the other side. For example, James Hansen has reported wrong data from Russia to falsely inflate global temperatures and participate in Global Warming protests. But what concerns me are the people who don't have a scientific background making statements that make headlines.  Last May, Prince Charles made a comment as reported by the London Telegraph:

"The Prince of Wales has warned that the world faces a series of natural disasters within 18 months unless urgent action is taken to save the rainforests."

Prince Charles is currently on tour in South America to promote his 'tipping point' claim.  Just this weekend he said that we are down to 100 months to save the world.  So in the past year, somehow we gained 88 extra months on the claim, or 80 total if you do the math.  Read Tony Hakes article and you will scratch your head because that puts us in the hot month of July in 2016.  The prince did act like Princess Leia last year appearing as a hologram at The World Future Energy Summit in the UAE to save energy on travel.  But this year, Tony points out:

The prince’s trip did cause a bit of an uproar in some British media outlets when it was announced he and his 14 person entourage would be flying via a private chartered jet.  UK’s Daily Mail reported that the 16,000 mile trip aboard a luxuriously appointed Airbus A319 would leave a carbon footprint of 322 tons of CO2 and cost in excess of £300,000.

That seems to fit with Gore's ignorance of his own energy consumption. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research charged that the gas and electric bills for the former vice president's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours.  After this became public, Mr. Gore vowed to put solar panels on his residence.  First, why did it take publicity for him to do this?  Second, this is not his only residence.  So who needs this abundance?  I've brought this topic up before, which angers his followers.  We just want consistency from the preacher to the pew.  It seems hypocritical to insist on conservation and then not practice it.  Buying carbon credits to offset his usage is like shooting heroine and chasing it with a shot of methadone.

The hypocrisy is beautifully captured in the cartoon from Jennifer Morahasy's blog.

Are you confused yet?  To recap, Prince Charles stated last year that we had 18 months for urgent action, but this year he is up to 100 months.  Back in 2006, Al Gore gave us 10 years to reach the tipping point.   But, James Hansen wrote to Obama after his election, saying that we have 4 years to save the world.  That is conveniently the duration of Obama's elected term, which ends in 2012.   So which one is it?  There are so many deadlines, we are sure to pass one, but have another 'last chance' left.  This is one of the reasons there is growing outcry against the alarmists.  The dates, the results, the science is changing.  Just last week I wrote a story about scientists who are on record saying Global Warming may stop for years or decades. Are we still learning about this new area of the science?  Are some making it up as they go along?

The 2009 International Conference of Climate Change is wrapping up today in New York City.   I will post later as I sort through all of the stories and data being presented.  Just for fun, check out the views about Global Warming  by Lisa, Bart and Homer Simpson.  This might not support anyone's cause, but you'll get a laugh. I think that is the best thing for all of us now.  One day I am sure we will all look back and laugh at ourselves.  Or at least I hope so.

The views expressed here do not represent those of Examiner.com, WMAR-TV or WCBM radio.