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When I first heard it, I believed it. It made sense. I could see it easily and clearly. And that was a long, long time ago. It seemed counterintuitive that anyone could or would not believe it. It was that seminal. HomoSapiens would cause the earth to warm, we now call it the Greenhouse Gas theory, and it is now a law (at least in California). But it was just a few years ago as the real hype got going that I had my first cause to question the legality of what would soon be a law. And it happened...

According to Kathryn Joyce, sneer-and-smear artist for The Nation, those who are concerned about the worldwide decline in birthrates are -- to put it mildly -- racist, neo-Nazis, who have a hidden agenda and (under the guise of demographic winter) are engaged in our age-old quest to control women's bodies. The Nation is this nation's oldest and largest-circulation left-wing journal (outside of The New York Times, of course). Joyce's screed, "Missing: The 'Right' Babies," will appear in the March 3 print edition, but is currently available online. Joyce believes -- with the faith of one immune to facts and logic...

Humans have altered Earth so much that scientists say a new epoch in the planet's geologic history has begun. Say goodbye to the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch and hello to the Anthropocene. Among the major changes heralding this two-century-old man-made epoch: Vastly altered sediment erosion and deposition patterns. Major disturbances to the carbon cycle and global temperature. Wholesale changes in biology, from altered flowering times to new migration patterns. Acidification of the ocean, which threatens tiny marine life that forms the bottom of the food chain. The idea, first suggested in 2000 by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, has gained steam...

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 10 (OneWorld) - Coastal residents and students from all over South Carolina are planning to picket this evening's Republican Party Presidential Candidates Debate. "We just want to emphasize how important the issue of climate change is to the future of South Carolina," said Gretta Kruesi of the state's Coastal Conservation League. "Climate change will affect the strength and number of hurricanes, beach erosion, and tourism, which is the backbone of our economy. We want to make sure the candidates address this issue and invite them to respond." Sporting surfwear and bathing suits, attendees plan to hold aquamarine...

The overriding environmental issue of these times is the warming of the planet. The Democratic hopefuls in the 2008 campaign are fully engaged, calling for large — if still unquantified — national sacrifices and for a transformation in the way the country produces and uses energy. The Republicans do not go much further than conceding that climate change could be a problem and, with the notable exception of John McCain, offer no comprehensive solutions. In 2000, when Al Gore could have made warming a signature issue in his presidential campaign, his advisers persuaded him that it was too complicated and...

Here is the text of Newsweek’s 1975 story on the trend toward global cooling. It may look foolish today, but in fact world temperatures had been falling since about 1940. It was around 1979 that they reversed direction and resumed the general rise that had begun in the 1880s, bringing us today back to around 1940 levels. A PDF of the original is available here. A fine short history of warming and cooling scares has recently been produced. It is available here. — D.D. To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s...

NASA Concerned ABC World News Vanity

There is frequently discussion of whether or not Antarctica is warming or cooling (and if so, by how much). The image below is a useful addition to the conversation. Click the source link for the full text.

<p>Cheers to Small Business: I Refuse to Be a 'Doomsday Diva'</p> <p>Last week in New York City, I participated in an important summit of business leaders where we explored the “Outlook for 2008.” We identified the key priorities and needs to keep the U.S. entrepreneurial sector strong and competitive.</p>

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All of the employees at the Wayne Farms fresh processing plant in Decatur have received tuberculosis skin tests and 212 of them tested positive. Health workers read and tabulated a final batch of tests Wednesday, said Scott Jones, interim director of the State Department of Public Health's Tuberculosis Control Division. Of the 598 tests administered Monday, 165 tested positive. In skin tests administered to 167 fresh processing employees Oct. 11, 47 tested positive. One of the 47 has active tuberculosis disease, which is contagious. All told, 28 percent of those who received skin tests at the fresh processing plant tested...

Stocks Drop Amid Earnings, Credit Unease Wall Street Falls Sharply Amid Lackluster Profit Reports, Credit Concerns NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks pulled back sharply and bonds jumped Friday as lackluster profit reports and unease about the credit markets touched off fresh concerns about the ability of the economy to continue to push ahead. Stocks logged their steepest declines since late August. Mixed results from Dow Jones industrial average components 3M Co., Honeywell Inc., and Caterpillar Inc. gave investors little incentive to buy. Wachovia Corp.'s weak profits renewed concerns that have dogged Wall Street in recent months about the banking sector.

<p>BOSTON (CNNMoney.com) -- For those in the real estate industry and for those looking to buy or sell a home, it could take until 2009 to catch a break.</p> <p>That's the forecast from Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), who will present his outlook to an auditorium full of real estate professionals on Wednesday morning.</p>

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Builders continued to slam the brakes on new homes in September, as the government's latest reading on the battered market out Wednesday showed housing starts and permits were weaker than expected at levels not seen for more than a decade.</p>

Even though public opinion is inexorably shifting toward concern about man-made climate change, we are still treated to the rants of warming skeptics who trot out the same old arguments. The interesting thing is how these objections have changed over time, moving the goal posts if you will. It's late in the fourth quarter, though, and the deniers are backed up almost to their own end zone as the melting glaciers of evidence creep slowly forward. Warming deniers have used two types of counter arguments: ones that attack the messenger or message, and others that try attacking the science. The...

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The meltdown in the mortgage market in August dried up the supply of buyers for homeowners looking to sell their homes, as an industry group report showed the lowest level of homes under contract on record.</p>

Al Gore, a former U.S. vice-president and star of the global-warming warning movie An Inconvenient Truth, will be in Victoria next month. Deirdre Campbell, of Tartan Public Relations, confirmed Gore will speak at the Victoria Conference Centre, on Saturday, Sept. 29. Tickets start at $199. Campbell said Gore's appearance was arranged by three students from the University of Victoria who she declined to name. She promised more details about the event in the near future. Gore was vice president to Bill Clinton for two terms. He ran for president in 2000 but lost, in a controversial election, to George W....

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The binge that many housing markets went on in the early- to mid-2000s is over, and some of the hottest markets like California are now experiencing the worst hangovers.</p> <p>But other areas, especially many that recorded slower home price growth earlier this decade, have seen little increase in foreclosure rates, according to the latest data released Tuesday from RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosure properties.</p>

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- American consumers are defaulting on their credit cards at a sharply higher rate compared to last year, in what could be another consequence of the recent subprime mortgage market crisis, according to a report published Tuesday.</p>

<p>Waiting to see big banks piling into the mortgage business a la Bank of America (BAC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating)? Don't hold your breath.</p> <p>BofA surprised Wall Street last week by making a $2 billion bet on struggling Countrywide (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). The news, announced after the close last Wednesday, gave Countrywide's sinking stock a one-day reprieve.</p>