Environment

New Evidence Suggests ‘Medieval Warming Period’ Was Global: Proof of Naturally-Occurring Global Warming?

  • Research from Syracuse University has established another metric for analyzing historical climate conditions — a rare mineral called ikaite.
  • Ikaite exists in cold water but it melts at warmer conditions. 
  • During warming and cooling periods oxygen-16 and oxygen-18, respectively, accumulate in the water and by studying these levels trapped in the crystals researchers can approximate climate conditions. 
  • The Syracuse researchers found a direct correlation between a rise and fall in oxygen-18 isotopes in ikaite in both Greenland and Antarctica for a period known as the Medieval Warming Period, which was followed by a “little ice age.”
  • The Medieval Warming Period to some in the scientific community is held to be an isolated event in Europe and Greenland but this correlation may show it was global.
  • If it was a global event, the evidence could suggest natural warming and cooling cycles. 

A new study from researchers at Syracuse University might call into question man-made global climate change as it is related to cyclical warming and cooling periods.

The study establishes a new, reliable metric for analyzing past climate conditions, and in doing so suggests that a period of warming once thought isolated to Europe, known as the Medieval Warming Period, may not have been so isolated after all. It may have been global.

Forbes provides some background on the Medieval Warming Period and why this study is important for today’s climate science:

To give a little background: we know very well that Europe was as warm if not warmer than it is now some 800, 900 years ago. Grapes grew further north than they do now for example, Greenland (the warmth extended that far at least) could be used in part to grow wheat and so on. So many have been saying, well, if it was this warm or warmer before, what’s all the fuss about this climate change then?

The answer has always been, well, so far as we know that warming was local, not global, and now we’re having global warming which is a very different thing. This research brings that explanation into question.

New Metric for Analyzing Past Climate Conditions Revealed Medieval Warming Period Might Have Been Global

Two millennia of mean surface temperatures according to different reconstructions from climate proxies.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the temperature of the last 2,000 years has been relatively stable aside from three events: the ice age, the “Medieval Climate Anomaly” (aka Medieval Warming Period) and the Industrial Era. EPA describes the “Medieval Climate Anomaly” as falling roughly between 900 and 1300 AD and with evidence suggesting Europe, Greenland and Asia experienced relative warmth. EPA does acknowledge historical accounts and other evidence that cite warmth occurring in other regions but states “the geographical extent, magnitude and timing of the warmth during this period is uncertain.”

The research from Syracuse could help provide more certainty. The Syracuse press release states that the research, which will be published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, by geochemist Zunli Lu and his colleagues found ikaite, a rare mineral that exists in cold water, in both Antarctica and Greenland. What does this mean for climate change and the Medieval Warming Period? The release explains further:

“Ikaite is an icy version of limestone,” say Lu, assistant professor of earth sciences in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences. “The crystals are only stable under cold conditions and actually melt at room temperature.”

It turns out the water that holds the crystal structure together (called the hydration water) traps information about temperatures present when the crystals formed.

[...]

Ikaite crystals incorporate ocean bottom water into their structure as they form. During cooling periods, when ice sheets are expanding, ocean bottom water accumulates heavy oxygen isotopes (oxygen 18). When glaciers melt, fresh water, enriched in light oxygen isotopes (oxygen 16), mixes with the bottom water. The scientists analyzed the ratio of the oxygen isotopes in the hydration water and in the calcium carbonate. They compared the results with climate conditions established in Northern Europe across a 2,000-year time frame. They found a direct correlation between the rise and fall of oxygen 18 in the crystals and the documented warming and cooling periods.

“We showed that the Northern European climate events influenced climate conditions in Antarctica,” Lu says. “More importantly, we are extremely happy to figure out how to get a climate signal out of this peculiar mineral. A new proxy is always welcome when studying past climate changes.”

Forbes‘s Tim Worstall explains that this doesn’t mean there is nothing to worry about in a warming climate. He states it is still uncertain how the higher recorded levels of carbon dioxide will affect the climate but notes that this study shows potential evidence of the warming “[stopping] of its own accord”:

From which the takeaway point is that perhaps climate sensitivity is lower than currently thought and thus climate change is less dangerous than currently thought.

Although there’s one terribly important word we have to add here: maybe.

The Register points out that Lu’s findings are contrary to the International Panel for Climate Change’s current stance that the Medieval Warming Period was a localized event and that other areas globally were cooler. It is this thought that is used to help draw the correlation that warming data collected more recently is related to human activity.

[H/T Daily Mail]

Comments (142)

1 2 3
  • RamonPreston
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:21pm

    Sure makes Al Gore look foolish but he got rich pushing Global Warming.

    Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • fishmagnet
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:06pm

      It doesn’t make him look foolish. Look at the graph in the story, we’re already much warmer than that warming period and it is still rising. Natural or not we are obligated to do more research and openly debate the realities we face. To just deny because you don’t believe it is insane. My personal belief is that we are already past the tipping point and our only course of action is to prepare for the changes that are inevitable. Adaptation will be easier than trying to reverse the trend. The life styles we have chosen to live will not change until calamity forces us to find a new path.

       
    • Smokey_Bojangles
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:13pm

      So Warmth is not cause by the Sun or God,But Republicans? That Dang Fred Flintstone and his SUV ruined the Ice Age!

      Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • TROONORTH
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:24pm

      FISHMAGNET you just go right on believing that. EVERYBODY ELSE- back away slowly. Make no sudden moves. Make no loud noises . … . .. . .

      Report Post » TROONORTH  
    • ICRedifURBlue
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:19pm

      Get real…….. if it‘s that much warmer why aren’t they growing wheat in Greenland now? ‘CUZ IT”S COVERED WITH SNOW

      Report Post »  
    • oldguy49
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:28pm

      and it didn’t cost them any carbon tax money

      Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:36pm

      I guess the thermometers made in 2000 are better and more accurate than the ones made in 1600…
      or earlier.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • SoupSandwich
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:50pm

      FishMag is gone. He/she/it has crossed over into ManBearPig territory and may never come back.

      Report Post »  
    • jzs
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 10:25pm

      I’m glad the Blaze is posting some science. There is a lot of science behind the idea that climate change is happening, and the linked article give some of them as well as the basis for those beliefs. We humans actually do have a handle on past cyclical variations in the Earth’s temperature by many measures, including the ratio oxygen isotopes in ice crystals mentioned above. There is no doubt that Earth’s temperature has varied over the last 4.5 billion years.

      And that’s what ought to worry you, not comfort you. As the linked article references there are “feedback mechanisms” that drive the Earth climate and explain much about the temperature swings. For example, ice melts, reducing the Earth albedo (reflectivity), which warms the Earth because less light is reflected back into space. Because the Earth absorbs more heat (into the oceans as well as land), more ice melts. That means even less heat is reflected into space and not absorbed. That’s a “feedback mechanism.”

      We’ve known since 1850 or so, that CO2 was one of the most important gasses that retain heat in the atmosphere, some without which the Earth would be a block of ice. The difference now is that the world is pumping thousands of tons of CO2 into the razer thin atmosphere of Earth every day.

      If you want to know what the issue is, look at the graph above after the industrial revolution (around 1850).

      Report Post » jzs  
    • VII
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 10:27pm

      Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
      “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

       
    • Elena2010
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 10:52pm

      @JZS – actually, water vapor is a more effective greenhouse gas than CO2.

      Dr Fred Singer back in 2004 published the 2nd of his Unstoppable Global Warming that presents the hypothesis that global warming in betw global ice ages is cyclical, happening every 1500 +/- years. He has many data points that show that the Medieval Warming period was indeed global not local. He also tracks periods of warming and cooling that occur naturally. It’s human hubris that thinks we can change something so wonderfully made as the earth. BTW, not to worry abt too much heat. Over the Pacific Ocean lies a trap door that exits heat as needed, so we don’t overheat.

      I’m glad my alma mater finally caught up! Go Orange! Pity they lost to Ohio State last week :-(

      Report Post » Elena2010  
    • its_time_to_arrest_our_government
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 11:00pm

      Al Gore is a fraud and need to be sent to prison where we send all frauds.

      Report Post »  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 11:38pm

      JZSaul,

      I’m freaking out here JZS.

      It was 12 degrees warmer today in my locale than it was yesterday.

      Crap, if it keeps up at this rate, my ceement pond is a likin to vaporate.

      Sorry dude, but that reply is all the quality your post deserves.

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • SpeckChaser
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:14am

      @Billy

      I think your wrong buddy.

      I have reliable source, the same one who informed me the government actually has a budget surplus of 400-600 quadrillion dollars and can afford to take care of every human need for the next several foreseeable millenniums, that told me cavemen were actually driving around in SUVs’ that averaged 50-60 gallons per mile. That is how we were able to pull out of that infamous Ice Age. He wasn’t exactly sure what action specifically commenced the Ice age, but felt pretty confident that man was the culprit.

      Let me re-emphasize. This is an extremely reliable source!

      Report Post » SpeckChaser  
    • RIGEL_ORION
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:06am

      The most amazing thing about this study is that it was actually able to break through the climate change cabal to see the light of day. Studies presenting evidence contrary to the theory of man-made climate change must meet a much higher standard for publishing let alone critical acclaim. The intense scrutiny having the intended effect of discouraging research into areas that don‘t fit the ’climate change consensus’

      Report Post »  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:12am

      @SPECKCHASER

      I stand corrected.

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • ZeitgeistBuster
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:48am

      Wasn’t this graph DISCREDITED at some point. If my memory serves, I think that this is an old graph and that the BLACK LINE at the very last of the graph has been DEBUNKED.

      I have to go back and check, but I believe this graph is INCORRECT. I specifically remember seeing a presentation correcting a graph like this and the CORRECTED graph showed the Medieval Warm period to be a couple of degrees warmer than where we are now.

      Report Post » ZeitgeistBuster  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 3:48am

      ZeitgeistBuster, yes, the graph in the article is the “warmist one” with “hide the decline” and “fudge the hockey stick” factored in.

      The corrected graph does show that the peak of MWP is a couple of degrees above the last max, which was 1998.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
    • old white guy
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 8:26am

      geology has shown these warming and cooling cycles. this is nothing new and the agw freaks will just ignore it. alberta canada was hot and humid for millions of years and then it was buried in ice about a mile thick for millions of years and now it has winter, spring, summer and fall. too bad the dinos did not have suvs there might not have been an ice age. we may yet again have an ice age if our sun cools. we have no control over this folks.

      Report Post »  
    • geomann
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:19am

      We have records from ice cores in Antarctica going back about 500,000 year, that clearly show a cycle happening approximately every 100,000 years. We are now near one of the peaks, and will be in an ice age in approximately 50,000 years.

      The adaptations we will need include ways to grow food in large quantities under winter condiditons, melt ice for drinking water without the use of the sun (it will be overcast), and travel in blizzard condidtions.

      There is a reason why the Earth’s human population is growing so rapidly: warm weather provides abundant resources. Don’t get too used to it.

      Report Post »  
    • Newton27
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:30am

      The premise of Algore’s global warming campaign was that man caused and could reverse global warming. There is nothing in this study that suggests any of this has to do with man’s actions. The earth’s climate is controlled by the sun, not man.

      Report Post »  
    • ronin_6
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:01pm

      @FISHMAGNET
      We are not allowed to openly debate it. Those that attempt to discuss this topic are called every name in the book. And Gore said “The debate is over”. Wake up dude its a scam.

      Report Post » ronin_6  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 3:53pm

      Please JZS…spare us your chicken little impersonations. Man cannot affect the Earth’s climate nor can he “alter it back”. The oceans give off vast amounts of CO2, far more than the tiny fraction of a percent man creates. Your AGW/Climate Change/Global Climate Disruption alarms are nothing but a money and power grab. It was “global cooling” in the seventies for idiots like you and Obama’s John Holdren, now the “coming disaster de jour” is “Global Warming/Climate Change/Global Climate Disruption”. For instance the island state of Tuvalu is asking for billions of dollars because they‘re claimnig they’re being engulfed by the “rising oceans”. The problem though is that the island was never meant for modern inhabitation. The country’s indigenous vegetable crop, taro, has been grossly over-farmed. They have no fresh water of their own- only what can be stored from rain. Most of the population uses the island’s lagoon for bathing and toilet facilities. The country has to ship its commercial waste to landfills in Fiji and New Zealand. Tuvalu is a mismanaged mess being run by fools. It’s just another U.N. shake-down operation.

      Report Post »  
  • B-Neil
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:05pm

    The sun is like the Constitution, constantly putting the lefts agendas and thought processes in the toilet. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

    Report Post »  
  • wvernon1981
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:03pm

    It will be interesting to see how this fits into the larger picture.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:01pm

      Weather Cycles… dictates Food Cycles… which dictates Variations in Supply… which dictates Unpredictable Availability… which dictates that Supply & Demand, known as Capitalism, is the Only Economic System that functions… which dictates that Communism is BS!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • wvernon1981
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:19pm

      Supply and Demand aren’t known as capitalism. Private ownership of the means of production is capitalism.

      Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:54pm

      Who was taking temperature readings back in year 0? Are we to trust the liberal scientist or ANY scientist to get those readings correct? Not me….

      Speaking of anomalies, here’s a good one… We have BC (before Christ) and AD (after death). Christ lived for 33 years. Where are the 33 years between BC and AD? Seems we are missing an entire generation in the scope of Time? Or at least 33 years in our calendar of time.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • SgtB
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 10:15pm

      @ The Monk, For a person with an awfully religious name, you have obviously done no research on this subject at all. The terms B.C. and A.D are generally referred to as meaning before Christ and after death; however, the term A.D actually stands for anno domini which translates to the year of our lord. So whenever our founders wrote “In the year of our lord …”, they were referring to the year in A.D.

      Please refer questions to a service like Bing or Google prior to making sensational claims or ignorant statements. And for the record, I don’t believe in anthropogenic global warming.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 3:57am

      The-Monk, you’re kidding, right?

      AD = Anno Domini; years of Lord (since birth)

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 28, 2012 at 12:29am

      @Twobyfour
      Yep, just have fun. : )

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 28, 2012 at 12:33am

      @Twobyfour
      Sorry, I meant just HAVING fun. : )

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • jakartaman
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:52pm

    Its that darn SUN always has been and probably always will be.
    Maybe we can have a solar volt? – darn Solyndra went belly up!

    Report Post »  
    • taxpro4u03
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:22am

      Although the Venus Project seems a bit out there — I suspect that’s what the establishment KNOWS and is a feared of, eh? — uTube it. Free energy? yeah-right. :-)

      Report Post »  
  • SpeckledPup
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:38pm

    ”global warming”…. yeah, or as we used to call it… The Four Seasons.

    Report Post »  
  • Larry E
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:37pm

    if the rocket scientists at EPA and those who think they are at NASA actually knew a little history and/or were sufficiently honest they’d know about not only the medieval warm period, but also the warming during Roman times, and the “Little Ice Age”. Of course if they admitted that global warming and cooling happened from time to time for reasons that we don‘t fully understand they wouldn’t be able to suck us dry with taxes and schemes to pay for or “prevent” global warming.

    Al Gore and others have made millions by pushing global warming while being totally hypocritical in their own activities by traveling all over the country and world in their private jets and limos while lecturing the rest of us on our evil ways.

    Report Post »  
  • semihardrock
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:37pm

    Its called……The final stages of the “Ice Age”

    The earth has been “globally warming” ever since….

    Report Post » semihardrock  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:05am

      I won’t put the Ice Age to rest, yet. What this period (holocene) is actually called (being similar to previous periods) is interglacial. Which means between glaciations.Which means we are still in an Ice age. The temps were globally about 3 degrees higher before the Ice Age, for the most of tertiary.

      Funny about it that a) the CO2 was higher than today (approx. twice ppm, today levels are still slightly above starvation levels for plant life); b) there was more vegetation and animal life around.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
  • SpeckledPup
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:36pm

    ‘global warming’ has got to be the biggest pay-off scam in Mankind’s history ..the global communists ….like al gore and clinton…. really found a way to make the gullible democrats AND their fugly stupid children lap it off their sticky fingers.

    Report Post »  
    • s0ck_monkey
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:48pm

      Nope, global warming is the 2nd biggest scam in human history. The biggest scam starts with the letter “O” and ends with “rganized religion”…

      Report Post »  
    • s0ck_monkey
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:57pm

      To clarify, my comment was in the context of scamming money from people. I wasn’t implying the invisible man in the sky was a scam.

      Report Post »  
  • countryfirst
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:33pm

    They must have been burning Algae back then.

    Report Post » countryfirst  
    • poorrichard09
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:38pm

      Yes, this followed what is know as the “little ice age” of abnormally COLD weather, which caused crop failures, famine, and disease including bubonic plague or “the black death”.
      The folks back then were damned happy for it to warm up again!

      Report Post »  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:14am

      poorrichard09, now hold on your bubonic plague horse! The plague stated to appear during MWP. It had nothing to do with the temperature (it actually thrives in a wide range of temperatures), but with a lack of sanitation in early medieval and middle medieval settlements.

      As for famines, true. With decreased temperatures, the production of food decreased too. There were clusters of 2-3 years during the mini-ice-age that agricultural production nearly failed entirely.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
  • Constructionist
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:27pm

    This is typical right wing extremist propaganda. Every reason-loving atheist knows that there never was a so-called ‘medieval’ period in history; there was just one long, glorious ‘progressive’ period before Fox News and the Koch brothers deleted it from the historical record.

    Report Post » Constructionist  
  • South Philly Boy
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:17pm

    Global Warming + algore = FRAUD

    Report Post » South Philly Boy  
    • wvernon1981
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:47pm

      Al Gore = Fraud – Global Warming
      or Global Warming = Fraud – Al Gore

      Report Post »  
  • HKS
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:16pm

    I would say that the evidence is not new, just ignored for political purposes. What this world has been through over history would boggle the mind and scientist get Google eyed over a few degrees of temperature change from last year, gimme a break, I thought these guys were suppose to be smart.

    Report Post » HKS  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:07pm

    Man made global warming is a mental disorder and anyone who believes in that crackpot theory is insane.Warmers,bunch of candyass communists.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:03pm

    Manmade Global Warming is a UN made myth and fabrication based on distorted and bogus data.

    The natural cycles of warming and ice ages have occured for eons before mankind even walked the surface of the earth; even the great age of the giant insects, long before the dinosaurs has been estimated to be hotter, wetter, and denser in oxygen rich atmosphere.

    Why people will still demand that they are right on this long ago disproven myth of global warming is beyond me.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:03pm

    Right around the time hell gave up the dead is when it went up a lot. That means there is a lot of people walking around who shouldn’t be, and the earth is going to call you home.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • nzkiwi
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:24pm

      Pass the bong, Tim.

      Report Post »  
    • wvernon1981
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:06pm

      No one said this research implied that the current warming trend is non-anthropogenic. It shows that the earth warmed for some seemingly non-anthropogenic reason during the middle ages. It will be interesting to see how climate scientists work this new data into their models.

      Report Post »  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:27pm

      Yes, pass the bong to WVERNON

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 10:01pm

      @Therightsofbilly
      Timmy will never give up his bong. It reminds him too much of his mommies teet.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:17am

      HI MONK,

      Timmy says……..“mine”

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:26am

      wvernon1981, you know, it would actually be cool if it was anthropogenic, but I am skeptical.

      See, the current interglacial follow the pattern of previous ones, to a degree. They lasted between 10ky to 12ky. Also, they had at their end two warm peaks and then freezer abyss again it went. Afraid we are at the end of current interglacial. If we were able to stave off the glacial, I’ll spew extra CO2 in any form and fashion I can, but I am a bit humbled by natural CO2 repositories like volcanoes, that are able to generate within a span of days after an eruption as much CO2 as the entire planet’s human population with all their gadgetry in 5 years.

      So, yeah, I wish it was true that we can influence the climate.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
  • drphil69
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:00pm

    Wait for the firestorm to discredit everything about Syracuse…

    Report Post »  
  • Exrepublisheep
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:00pm

    SOOooooo… Global Warming is real……but not caused by humans? Doesn’t that screw over all your anti-Gore opinions?

    Report Post » Exrepublisheep  
    • Psychosis
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:08pm

      not at all

      but it proves your incapable of a relevant thought

      Report Post » Psychosis  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:10pm

      Well actually it is caused by humans, but just because of the too many billions of humans. Not because of what humans are doing, but just the sheer fact they exist in the multiple billions. So the earth is going to wipe out the large populations.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • kaydeebeau
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:11pm

      I think it is called weather. Since we can’t accurately predict it I find it difficult to believe we cause it

      Report Post » kaydeebeau  
    • Walkabout
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:03pm

      Exrepublisheep

      SOOooooo… Global Warming is real……but not caused by humans? Doesn’t that screw over all your anti-Gore opinions?
      ________________________

      It shows that maybe we should not go on the anti-carbon kick.

      Report Post »  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:02pm

      Hey Tim,

      Did the planet come with instructions that tell us how many people we are allowed to populate it with?

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • SoupSandwich
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:53pm

      Sheep should not mock ManBearPig. Especially if money and power are to be lost. Makes ManBearPig serial. Serial.

      Report Post »  
  • disenlightened
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:59pm

    If the earth heats up and there are no liberals around to exploit it, did it really heat up?

    Report Post » disenlightened  
  • Less1leg
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:49pm

    to be quite honest in the modern liberal progressive world of today. Facts of the past are just pointless entries of useless information because today’s Progressive Elites have decreed that only through them that salvation can be achieved. In fact let’s look at the “real” track records of Climate Change Supporter for the past year along. (1) California Climate Supporters, coercsed the public school system to approve that its acceptable for a Teacher to misrepresent the facts or lie to students concerning Global Warming. As in the “ends justifies the means”. So you can lie to a student providing it supports Global Warming. It promotes “the cause”, and further draws more young people into an already flawed scientific group.

    Report Post » Less1leg  
  • cloudsofwar
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:47pm

    i don’t think man is causing or contributing to global warming. the earth takes care of itself when it comes to CO2. one volcano makes more CO2 than all the cars combined. over all the years of the earth with it’s volcanos where did all the CO2 go? we now have lower pollution than any time in our history at least in this country yet the leftist blame America. this global warming is just a scam to seperate us from our money. funny GOD made the earth but the leftist say man will destroy it with there SUV’s and oil. what a load of crap.

    Report Post »  
    • Curious Visitor
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:50pm

      You think that pollution levels are lower now than they were in the late 18th century?

      Report Post »  
    • Psychosis
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:11pm

      at curious

      its a proven FACT that pollution levels are lower today in most parts of the world save possibly china, and india, and even that is questionable

      Report Post » Psychosis  
    • wvernon1981
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:09pm

      C02 levels are higher because we are creating more CO2 now than the rate at which the existing carbon sinks can absorb it. Even if excess CO2 emissions end up not causing catastrophic warming, the oceans are still growing increasingly acidic.

      Report Post »  
    • Bytor
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 7:58pm

      @WVERNON1981

      Before you post, get a clue. The ocean’s CANNOT become acidic! They are 8.4+ PH, they can become more neutral, but NOT acidic. And FACT is, they are not doing that either! You could pump all the CO2 that humans have ever created into the ocean’s and you would not be able to detect a change in PH. The oceans hold an enormous amount of CO2, and as long as they are in contact with rocks, which I am pretty sure they always will be, then it is impossible for them to EVER become acidic.

      Get a clue before posting gibberish!

      Report Post » Bytor  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:07pm

      @BYTOR

      I’m sorry, that gibberish was my fault.

      I told Tim to pass the bong to WVERNON

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • Walkabout
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:08pm

      Psychosis
      England was dirtier in the 19th century than now. Moths species changed coloration. The coloration became darker to match that of their soot covered surroundings.

      Ten there is the all to real joke that your had two shirts when you went in to work in Pittsburg. One to wear to work & one to put on when you got there.

      Things are better. I have lived in one of the 10 most polluted cites in the world. It sat in a valley and when there was an inversion layer you could see it. The worst was taking a f\day trip to some local holiday spot a few hours form the city & then coming back. When you got close to the city you would see a orange-ish brownish dome over it. I just don’t see that type of pollution as much in the U.S. anymore. I haven;t seen anything near that in over 2 decades.

      Report Post »  
    • wvernon1981
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:24pm

      BYTOR,

      http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110309/full/471154a.html

      Report Post »  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 11:24pm

      Hey Vern,

      http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/is-the-ocean-getting-more-acidic/

      http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/06/19/the-electric-oceanic-acid-test/

      http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/27/the-ocean-is-not-getting-acidified/

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:52am

      wvernon1981: “C02 levels are higher because we are creating more CO2 now than the rate at which the existing carbon sinks can absorb it”

      Did’ya know that the CO2 levels lag about 800 years behind a temperature changes? By a sheer coicidence, the peak of MWP was about 800 tears ago. Thusly, I would expect the increased CO2 levels reflecting MWP peak… just about in our times.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
  • Curious Visitor
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:45pm

    This article makes me question very seriously the credentials of Ms. Klimas as a journalist. I understand The Blaze is an opinion site and that its goal is to put forth a certain message, not simply report on the news; but this is unbelievable. Proof that warming can happen naturally? This has been known for a long time now. I‘m sure the purpose of the headline is to prey on many people’s lack of reasoning skills by suggesting that if indeed this was new information, and that warming COULD happen as a result of natural causes, then it must mean that this is the way it ALWAYS happens and the way it is happening now.

    Taking advantage of people’s ignorance to increase site traffic and bolster your message. Very shameful stuff.

    Report Post »  
    • paulusmaximus
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:02pm

      You question anyone who sees any other possibility then you. A true leader of the twenty-first century inquisition! Would you have Zunli Lu and his colleagues burned at the stake?.

      Report Post » paulusmaximus  
    • Curious Visitor
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:08pm

      I am not questioning the scientist and the research they are doing is in no way controversial. I’m questioning the author of this piece and the way in which she framed her headline, which is a shameless display of yellow journalism. People should not be lead to believe this research suggest anything other than what it does.

      Report Post »  
    • nzkiwi
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:36pm

      @ Curious
      Yes it is true that this has been known for some time, but we knew it because of historical records from the time. Church records, mostly.

      What Ms Klimas is presenting is scientific corroboration. That’s the new bit.

      The other new thing is that scientists are starting to be honest about the subject. That is also refreshing.

      Report Post »  
    • Al Gored
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 9:11am

      Curious Visitor

      LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Science undermines ‘hockey-stick’ graph
      Thursday, March 8, 2012
      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/8/science-undermines-hockey-stick-graph/

      This is beginning of the letter:

      “As of March 5, there have been 1,051 peer-reviewed studies representing 601 research institutions and involving 44 countries covering the Medieval Warming Period (MWP).

      These studies show that the MWP was global and as warm or warmer than our current temperatures. These studies arrived at their conclusions using many different proxies for temperature, including coral, caves, pollen grains, ocean floor sediments, ice cores and diatoms.”

      Sounds like the ‘global’ MWP is old news.
      Makes me wonder why some would want to make this into a big story?
      And yes, the title is Curious.

      Here is another title:

      Is this finally proof we’re NOT causing global warming? The whole of the Earth heated up in medieval times without human CO2 emissions, says new study

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2120512/Global-warming-Earth-heated-medieval-times-human-CO2-emissions.html

      Report Post »  
  • Lloyd Drako
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:19pm

    What is the headline supposed to imply? Who has ever said that naturally caused global warming cannot occur? The real question is, can human activity cause or contribute to global warming?

    Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:39pm

      We need an emergency program to build nuclear power plants. With nuclear power plants we will have the energy to cool homes and buildings or heat them. With nuclear power we can even cool farmers fields or heat them.

      Report Post »  
    • mikem1969
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:40pm

      No, they are saying that NATURAL GLOBAL CLIMATE CYCLES OCCUR ON A REGULAR BASIS. This has been proven before with the various thousands of core samples taken from ice caps, deserts, sea beds, and many other places around the globe. MAN MADE CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT POSSIBLE. Man is arrogant to think that he has the ability to do so, but look at all the libs and progressives, all of them arrogant know it all idiots.

      Report Post »  
    • nzkiwi
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:52pm

      No, humans can’t make any significant effect on our climate.

      The required energy input would be enormous and only the sun has that kind of energy. There were other events, that is true, such as when the earth was hit by an asteroid that was six miles wide and travelling at about 20.000 miles an hour. This threw up a dust cloud that blotted out the sun and ended the dinosaurs. But that was the lack of the sun’s input. The Pinatubo eruption dropped earth’s temperature slightly and briefly, and that possessed huge power.

      The global warming scientific frauds have always tried to minimise the Medieval Warming period as it completely negates their position. One of them sent an email actually saying “We must get rid of the Medieval warm period”. Micheal Mann’s now infamous “hockey stick” graph was proven manipulation of data to minimise this warming.

      We have as much chance of controlling the planet’s temperature as we have of stopping the wind. The idea is ludicrous.

      What it was all about was to create fear so that the UN could step in with a “solution” and end up controlling the world’s energy supply, and thereby, the world itself. This they have admitted accidentally from time to time.

      Report Post »  
    • Curious Visitor
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:05pm

      @MIKEM1969

      No scientist has ever claimed that natural changes in temperature do not occur. The failure in reasoning occurs when people think, “Well since it is possible for climates to change naturally, that must be the only way they can change.” This assertion isn‘t based on observed evidence of any kind and is really just a manifestation of that person’s particular beliefs

      When you say that man made climate change is not possible, I’m not sure if you are being intentionally hyperbolic as a means of arguing against anthropogenic factors contributing to our current climate, or if you really believe that man can never affect his environment. If it’s the former, than I will concede that at least that point is being debated in the academy, even though the score is about 97% – 3% in favor of anthropogenic warming. If it’s that latter, then it’s a patently and absurdly false statement.

      Look at Venus, which is hotter than Mercury despite being further from the Sun, for evidence of what happens to a planet when greenhouse gases cross the point of no return. I would love to be enlightened how you know that 100, 1000, 10000 years in the future, we would not be able to pump enough gas into the atmosphere to cause runaway warming. Please tell me.

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:13pm

      Yes, Lloyd, the headline is an odd one.

      Report Post »  
    • Bytor
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:03pm

      @CURIOUS VISITOR

      You should consider getting a clue before posting such garbage about Venus. Venus is NOT hot because of CO2, it is HOT because of many other factors. Firstly, the atmosphere is 3000x’s that of the Earth. It is over 99 bar at the surface. Sunlight does not reach the surface because the atmosphere is so dense. Because of the density of the atmosphere, sunlight reflects much more than on Earth, which is why it is the brightest body in the sky (save the moon of course). And there are many many other factors as to why Venus is hotter, and NONE of them have to do with CO2 or the GHE (which isn’t even possible). Do your research first!

      Report Post » Bytor  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 8:38pm

      Al Whore and today‘s radical envirogreenie nazi’s say man is the cause. You living under a rock?? The university enivromoney grabbers had to fudge the numbers to keep the Taxpayers Cash flowing. The wholely owned DEMOCRAT PARTY says it.

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:25pm

      “The university enivromoney grabbers had to fudge the numbers to keep the Taxpayers Cash flowing.”

      Apparently the folks at Syracuse didn’t get the memo.

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
  • lukerw
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:19pm

    Old News… 1550-1850 was called the Little Ice Age… 1816 was called the Year Without A Summer… and now 200 years later the Year Without A Winter.

    Weather Cycles… you FlatEarther Commies!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • CatB
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:30pm

      LOL … you got that right … flatearthers!

      Report Post »  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on March 26, 2012 at 6:04pm

      Indeed, there are written accounts of the Thames river freezing solid during the little ice age in which great wintertime fairs were safely held on the ice.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • martinez012577
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:14pm

    Nor is Gingrich and Romney.

    Report Post » martinez012577  
  • Blackhawk1
    Posted on March 26, 2012 at 5:12pm

    ALGORE and Obama are not going to like this news.

    Report Post » Blackhawk1  
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