More on "global warming"

THURSDAY UPDATE: State Rep. Jeff Lewis' comments have been added to the bottom of this post.

I don't know why I'm coming back to this again, but yesterday state legislators held a hearing on global warming called "Climate Change: Fact or Fiction?"

Because, yeah, the Georgia House of Representatives is who I want getting to the bottom of that one.

Anyway, they basically decided it was all a big myth, no worries, go buy a Hummer. The AJC covered it.

Well, state Rep. DuBose Porter (a Dublin Democrat, newspaper owner and potential 2008 candidate for governor - but, then, who isn't?) put out a press release scoffing at all of this. He brings up that pesky 2,000 scientist international report on climate change from earlier this year.

That report, which I believe you can download here, is so complicated and long that it makes... well, it's really complicated and long.

But, basically, it says that: 1. Global warming is real and 2. Humans have something to do with it. And I quote:

The understanding of anthropogenic warming and cooling influences on climate has improved since the TAR, leading to very high confidence that the global average net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming, with a radiative forcing of +1.6 [+0.6 to +2.4] W m–2 (see Figure SPM.2). {2.3., 6.5, 2.9}

See?

Anyway, the opening of Porter's press release:

ATLANTA - Global warming doesn't exist, at least in Georgia, according to Georgia Republican legislators like Rep. Jeff Lewis (R-Cartersville). Lewis, who chaired a hearing ironically entitled "Climate Change: Fact or Fiction?" invited testimony from three hand-picked scientists whose work is bankrolled by the oil and coal industries. Lewis' hearing and its subsequent media conference happened on one of the hottest days of the year, one of a number of recent days to see triple-digit temperatures around the state.

"If you're a farmer in South Georgia, and you're watching your crops shrivel up before your eyes and your watering ponds evaporate, I don't think you've got a lot of nice things to say about Georgia Republican science," said Rep. Dubose Porter (D-Dublin). "There's no question about "fact or fiction," this is the reality for Georgia, even if Jeff Lewis and the other Georgia Republicans on this committee refuse to admit it.

I've got a call into Lewis, but it's after hours. If I get him tomorrow, I'll post a response. I have no idea who these scientists are, or whether Porter is correct about who pays their salaries, but I'm happy to ask.

But forget, for a moment, the science on this. Someone is misreading public sentiment big time, because both these positions can't be right, scientifically or politically. And Porter is appealing to people who can't step outside without breaking a profuse sweat, and farmers with long memories of better crops.

Never mind the fact that one, or any number of, really hot summers in Georgia don't do anything to prove global warming. The perception is that it's hotter, and it's tough to go against perception. Particularly when the almanacs, headlines and a hell of a lot of scientists back it up.

Anyway, all this is just an excuse to post a great bumper sticker I saw a while back. It said: "Gravity is just a theory."

UPDATE: Just spoke to Rep. Lewis. He noted that he didn't see Rep. Porter at this meeting, but would have been glad to give him a seat right up front...

As for who pays the salaries for these scientists, Lewis said he doesn't know, but they came from various think-tanks and study groups. He said the committee was looking for differing opinions, but he wouldn't be against further hearings where one side or the other (that is, global warming is real, versus global warming is a myth) presented its point of view.

He did note that the popular media, and some of the conferences that legislators have attended this summer, have focused only on one side - i.e., that global warming is a coming catastrophe.

"We're trying to be as educated as we can. ..." Lewis said. "Regardless of who's right and who's wrong, one thing that we do know, is there are differing expert opinions."

As for his opinion? Lewis said he hasn't formed one yet. But various studies do show that Georgia's air is cleaner these days.

"Most everyone agrees that our air quality is cleaner today than it was 30 years ago. ..." Lewis said. "Are we doing enough today? Maybe we are, maybe we aren't. But our air, by all measures, is cleaner."