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Al Gore has a new argument for why carbon dioxide is the global warming boogeyman -- and it’s simply out of this world.Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday with yet another one of his infamous slide shows, Gore observed that the carbon dioxide (CO2) in Venus’ atmosphere supercharges the second-planet-from-the-sun’s greenhouse effect, resulting in surface temperatures of about 870 degrees Fahrenheit. Gore added that it’s not Venus’ proximity to the Sun that makes the planet much warmer than the Earth, because Mercury, which is even closer to the Sun, is cooler than Venus. Based on this rationale,...

Former Vice President Al Gore testifies about climate change at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 28, 2009. Former Vice President Al Gore (R) shakes hands with U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Ct), (L), before he testifies about climate change at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 28, 2009. From L-R are: Dodd, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tn),Chairman Sen. John Kerry (D-Ma) and Gore.

Still worried that the Large Hadron Collider will create a black hole that will destroy the Earth when it's finally switched on this summer? Three physicists have reexamined the math surrounding the creation of microscopic black holes in the Switzerland-based LHC, the world's largest particle collider, and determined that they won't simply evaporate in a millisecond as had previously been predicted. Rather, Roberto Casadio of the University of Bologna in Italy and Sergio Fabi and Benjamin Harms of the University of Alabama say mini black holes could exist for much longer — perhaps even more than a second, a relative...

Former Vice President Al Gore is urging Congress not to be sidetracked by the current financial crisis and to take "decisive action" this year to reduce the heat-trapping gases responsible for global warming. Gore, scheduled to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, planned to tell lawmakers that a bill capping greenhouse gas emissions is needed if the U.S. is to play a leading role in negotiations for a new international climate treaty. He also was pressing Congress to pass President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, saying investments in clean energy and green jobs will help dig the...

.S. President Barack Obama speaks before signing two executive orders on combating climate change while in the East Room of the White House in Washington, January 26, 2009. From L-R are: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Obama, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Obama told the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to reconsider California's request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars, reversing the climate policies of former President George W. Bush.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday will name Todd D. Stern, a trusted top aide in her husband’s White House, to serve as a special envoy for climate change, Democratic officials said. Climate was largely ignored by President George W. Bush’s State Department, but the officials said Stern’s appointment shows it will be a priority throughout President Barack Obama’s administration. Stern was staff secretary, a sensitive job that makes him the gatekeeper to every piece of paper the President sees and signs. Also for Clinton, he was senior White House negotiator at the Kyoto and Buenos Aires climate negotiations....

January 26, 2009 Barack Obama to reverse Bush’s climate change policies President Obama is expected to issue new environmental regulations today, reversing former President George W. Bush's climate change policies by allowing several US states to set tougher car emissions and fuel efficiency standards. The dramatic federal action granting California and 13 other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions is a sharp departure from the Bush administration’s environmental policy, and has been opposed by auto companies. According to The New York Times, Mr Obama is to issue a directive to the US Environmental Protection Agency to immediately begin work...

OTHERA BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - Antarctica is getting warmer rather than cooling as widely believed, according to a study that fits the icy continent into a trend of global warming. A review by U.S. scientists of satellite and weather records for Antarctica, which contains 90 percent of the world's ice and would raise world sea levels if it thaws, showed that freezing temperatures had risen by about 0.5 Celsius (0.8 Fahrenheit) since the 1950s. "The thing you hear all the time is that Antarctica is cooling and that's not the case," said Eric Steig of the University of Washington in...

Bedford Central eNews January 21, 2009 Dear Bedford Central Learning Community: In 1970, as a high school senior, a classmate of mine and I organized the first “Earth Day” celebration for our school district. Inspired by books like The Population Bomb, The Environmental Handbook, and Silent Spring and motivated by a remarkable teacher, we coordinated a “teach in” in every one of the district’s schools. Of course, I did not realize at the time I would continue teaching interdisciplinary units of study when I became a teacher or would continue leading school and district learning for the next several decades....

Gore Losing the War: 59% Don't Believe Man Is Warming the Planet By Noel Sheppard Created 2009-01-19 13:28 He won an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize, but a recent poll suggests the Global Warmingist-in-Chief Al Gore is losing his propaganda war to convince Americans carbon dioxide is destroying the planet. In fact, the number of people who believe that long-term planetary trends are responsible for the relatively small increase in temperatures in recent decades rose ten percent since last April while those viewing it as a man-made problem have decreased by six percent. Talk about your inconvenient truths! This...

Advocates of human caused global warming to take increasingly ridiculous positions to defend the indefensible One of the most disturbing aspects of the global warming scam is the number of prominent people and entire segments of society bullied into silence. Consider the case of Dr. Joanne Simpson described as follows. “the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology, and formerly of NASA, who has authored more than 190 studies ... Then consider her statement. “Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain...

If you're wondering why North America is starting to resemble nuclear winter, then you missed the news. At December's U.N. Global Warming conference in Poznan, Poland, 650 of the world's top climatologists stood up and said man-made global warming is a media generated myth without basis. Said climatologist Dr. David Gee, Chairman of the International Geological Congress, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?" I asked myself, why would such obviously smart guy say such a ridiculous thing? But it turns out he's right. The earth's temperature peaked...

Al Gore’s side may be coming to power in Washington, but they appear to be losing the battle on the idea that humans are to blame for global warming. Forty-four percent (44%) of U.S. voters now say long-term planetary trends are the cause of global warming, compared to 41% who blame it on human activity. Seven percent (7%) attribute global warming to some other reason, and nine percent (9%) are unsure in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats blame global warming on human activity, compared to 21% percent of Republicans. Two-thirds of GOP voters...

The purpose of my letter today is to express my view on global warming, a view that is in opposition to contemporary thought and one many readers will find disagreeable. However, before rendering a judgment on my view, I'd like the reader to stay with me to the end because you may be pleasantly surprised where I land. I don't believe that the human use of carbons to fuel our energy needs is the cause of global warming, if global warming even exists. That's my opinion, straight and simple. The context of this letter makes it unnecessary to explain how...

An US dietician says that has branded Americans food habits an "SUV eating style", which contributes to global warming more than the cars they drive, in her book. Kate Geagan, registered dietitian in Park City, Utah, refers to a University of Iowa study that has found that food on average travels about 1,500 miles to reach people's tables. "When we choose highly processed packaged foods, we contribute to global warming, so food is a new part of the dialogue about the environment. And this is something that everyone can do now and not wait for politicians to enact changes. An...

Science writer Matt Ridley on the causes of poverty and prosperityMatt Ridley, an Oxford-educated zoologist, turned to journalism in 1983, when he got a job as The Economist’s science reporter. He soon became the magazine’s Washington correspondent and eventually served as it’s American editor. This time in the United States had a profound intellectual effect on Ridley, ultimately leading him to become a self-described classical liberal, a “person who believes in economic freedom and social freedom, too.” Ridley, 50, has written several superb books that combine clear explanations of complex biology with discussions of the science’s implications for human society....

NEW-CYCLE SUNSPOT: The first sunspot of the new year has appeared. Sunspot 1010 in the sun's southern hemisphere is a member of new Solar Cycle 24.

Despite the mountains of contrary evidence, concerns over disappearing sea ice and the unfounded position that the North Pole could melt entirely in 2008, pushed U.S. government bureaucrats to officially list the polar bear as an endangered species in May of 2008. And then guess what happened.... After the onslaught of record breaking bitter temperatures during the last quarter of this year, and with less wind, the amount of sea ice has significantly and dramatically rebounded at the fastest rate ever before recorded. Currently being measured to be about where it was 29 years ago in 1979, sea ice is...

How kangaroo burgers could save the planet25 December 2008 by Bijal Trivedi COWS, sheep and goats may seem like innocent victims of humanity's appetite for meat, but when it comes to climate change they have a dark secret. Forget cars, planes or even power stations, some of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters wander idly across rolling pastures chewing the cud, oblivious to the fact that their continuous belching (and to a lesser degree, farting) is warming the planet. Take New Zealand, where 34.2 million sheep, 9.7 million cattle, 1.4 million deer and 155,000 goats emit 48 per cent of...

<p>Filling the atmosphere with Greenhouse gases associated with global warming could push the planet into a new ice age, scientists have warned.</p> <p>Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that 630 million years ago the earth had a warm atmosphere full of carbon dioxide but was completely covered with ice.</p>