But hasn't President Barack Obama kept prices so much lower than the last President did? Gas was well over four dollars during the last administration....

But it snowed in Israel for the first time in 20 years?

It snowed in London.

Why would we want to do that? Ive used less heating oil. Isnt burning fossil fuels the leading cause of global warming? Gets warmer , burn less less warming.
Yes , global warming , the problem that fixes itself.

steve:

> Ive used less heating oil. Isnt burning fossil fuels the leading cause
> of global warming? Gets warmer , burn less less warming. Yes ,
> global warming , the problem that fixes itself.

Your decreased use of fuel oil is insignificant in comparison to the total (and rapidly increasing!) amount of carbon we're emitting to the atmosphere each year.

By the way, as easily-accessible liquid petroleum becomes more scarce, we're switching to accessing tar sands and oil shales; the process of accessing these forms of petroleum is *ITSELF* a huge carbon emitter so we're seeing a large (2-3x) multiplier on how much carbon is emitted for each unit of carbon burned by the end user of the fuel so even if you're burning less #2 fuel oil, much more carbon is being emitted on your behalf.

It snows in Israel every winter

"The fact is, we cannot affect the global climate to any significant degree - positively or negatively."

That's a "fact?" You know this how?

David:

God (or Rush Limbaugh, same difference) told him so!

Have you ever been to London? I have, in 1996. It snowed a few times, so what?!

Look at the history of snow and cold weather in London. Prior to the 18th century there were "Frost Fairs" held on the frozen Thames River.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/03/snow-history-britain-weather

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=winter-history;sess=

Scientists have temperature data (by proxies) that extends back much, much farther.

Also, scientists refer to this as "Global Climate Change" rather than "Global Warming" precisely because it will cause some places to get colder while (most) other places get warmer. All in all, more energy in the weather system leads to more chaotic behavior with increased extremes in both directions.

I'm sure you knew this, but it's 4.5 Billion.
I heard a good explanation of the problem - from someone that studies this stuff for a living.
Around 350 - 400 million years ago, it was very, very warm. Palm trees at the poles warm. Because there was a LOT of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
There was so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that it acidified the oceans (CO2 is an acid, who knew?), killing most life, which floated down, decayed, sequestered a lot of the co2, and eventually turned into oil.
So the oil traps the carbon dioxide, and things cool down.
Now we are dragging that co2 back out out of the ground and using our cars to put it back into the atmosphere at the rate of 9 trillion pounds per year. And rising quickly, thanks to China, India, etc.
This kind of stuff happens naturally too, but not at the rate we are causing it to happen, which may be too fast for the nature that we depend on to keep up.
BTW, if we get off of oil, spawn new industries, invent new power sources (which we are good at), and the climate scientists are wrong, we are left with new industries and power sources and 0% dependence on the Middle East - which costs us much $$ and many lives, right? If we ignore the scientists and they are right, then we are left with...
Well, I guess maybe we won't be here to be left with anything.

Steve:

> Now we are dragging that co2 back out out of the ground and using our
> cars to put it back into the atmosphere at the rate of 9 trillion pounds per
> year. And rising quickly, thanks to China, India, etc.

The statistic I've heard* is that we're now burning "10,000 years of fossilized sunshine every year".

*I haven't checked this but it sounds like the right order of magnitude.

I bet that News Fish read this and instead of understanding why it is funny, actually thought that you had crossed over to his/her way of thinking.

The sun is up, does that mean night will never come again?

Non-sequitur; just a gratuitous slam at a Democrat.

Mr. Atlant,

Albiet, a factual "slam" against an hypocritical individual regardless of political party

Kind of a disjointed slam desperately trying to malign someone you have been told to vilify with very weak results.

Mr. Healy,

Save your assumptions for picking Lottery Numbers, No one told me to vilify anyone, The only person that told me of a clear and present environmental danger was Mr. Gore

So what?
And 2) the problem isn't really the production of oil, it's the consumption, right?
And lots and lots of people are warning of an environmental disaster, you just hate Al Gore.

Mr. Steve from NH,

Nope don't like or hate Mr. Gore.

Just wondering why one of the most prominent of 'lots and lots of people who warn of environmental disaster" would have no problem selling his beliefs and personal convictions to make a personal profit to a country that provides for the "consumption" of a product that is a "clear and present danger".

Maybe he will use some of the "Green" to further champion his cause??

I though Al Gore sold a cable network.......
I didn't know so many other things are attached to a simple sale.

>Selling his beliefs and personal convictions..
Oops, my mistake - I thought he was selling a TV station.
I still don't get what's wrong with that. I sold my car recently, but I still believe in transportation.

So? You *DO* understand the difference between "weather" and "climate", right?

I guess if we are going to have one cold day this week then the trend in a 100 years of data must be called into question......

Because its barely below freezing in the middle of January?
Were you born yesterday?