At 60 Minutes - "A Global Warning"

For those who understood that the main cause of "Global Warming" was still a debatable point ... this segment hosted by Scott Pelley showed evidence that was quite convincing - Ice Cap Taps (long poles of ice taken from the ice cap and analyzed for CO2).

Excerpts:

A Global Warning - Correspondent Scott Pelley went north to see what Bob Corell calls a "global warning."

(CBS) The North Pole has been frozen for 100,000 years. But according to scientists, that won't be true by the end of this century. The top of the world is melting. There's been a debate burning for years on the causes of global warming. But the scientists you're about to meet say the debate is over. New evidence shows man is contributing to the warming of the planet, pumping out greenhouse gases that trap solar heat. Much of this new data was compiled by American scientist Bob Corell, who led a study called the "Arctic Climate Impact Assessment." It's an awkward name — but consider the findings: the seas are rising, hurricanes will be more powerful, like Katrina, and polar bears may be headed toward extinction.

Well, there you go - it's over ... and two scientists in this piece say so.

It's activity like burning fossil fuels, releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The U.S. is by far the largest polluter. Corell says there's so much greenhouse gas in the air already that more temperature rise is inevitable.

And, It's ALL our fault, we are the largest polluter!

Even if we stopped using every car, truck, and power plant — stopping all greenhouse gas emissions — Paul Mayewski, at the University of Maine, says the planet would continue to warm anyway. "Would continue to warm for another, about another degree," he says

There is NO switch to turn this effect off.

That's enough to melt the Arctic — and if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the temperature will rise even more. The ice that's melting already is changing the weather by disrupting ocean currents.

And

"That said, the skeptics have brought up some very, very interesting issues over the last few years. And they've forced us to think more and more about the data that we collect. We can owe the skeptics a vote of thanks for making our science as precise as it is today," says Mayewski.

One big supporter of climate science research is the Bush administration, spending $5 billion a year. But Mr. Bush refuses to sign a treaty forcing cuts in greenhouse gases.

And we are at fault for NOT agreeing to the Kyoto Protocol. Forget the fact that China and India are NOT in the treaty to cut gases, and that we are still spending $5 Billion Dollars a year to support research.

"When you look at the American government, which is saying essentially, 'Wait a minute. We need to study this some more. We can't flip our energy use overnight. It would hurt the economy.' When you hear that, what do you think?" Pelley asked.

"Well, what I do then is, I try to tell them exactly what we know scientifically. The science is, I believe, unassailable," says Corell. "I'm not arguing their policy, that's their business, how they deal with policy. But my job is to say, scientifically, shorten that time scale so that if you don't push out the effects of climate change into the long, long distant future. Because even under the best of circumstances, this natural system of a climate will continue to warm the planet for literally hundreds of years, no matter what we do."

That's right - "the natural system of a climate will continue... "(so, why do we continue to spend $5 billion dollars toward research).

I like the solution I heard floated by Hugh Hewitt on his radio program last week ... Figure out a way to light off Krakatoa, you know, the volcano that blew its top back in 1883. Well, the effects of that event on the Earth were quite dramatic.

The volcanic dust veil that created such spectacular atmospheric effects also acted as a solar radiation filter, lowering global temperatures as much as 1.2 degree C in the year after the eruption. Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.

Krakatoa information ht: Nicholas Elliott

Yeah! Let's flip that switch!