Revisited: Re: FW: Daily Tech's response to Rich Kulawiec

[Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>]

There's an excellent writeup on this that's just been posted today:

        Of Mountains and Molehills
        http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/9/878/93026/133/472774

It notes that an article from Michael Masher of Daily Tech will
be forthcoming there next week.

The entire article is very well-written, and provides another useful
introduction to the subject.  On the highly dubious claim that changes
in the sun are somehow responsible, the author writes:

        First, it's Baloney. We've been watching the sun closely with
        modern telescopes for over a century. It's been examined in minute
        detail at every wavelength for several decades. Stellar models for
        stars like our sun suggest it will slowly heat up, roughly 10%
        every one-billion years. It faithfully exhibits an eleven year
        sunspot cycle, but to the best of our measurement ability, that
        cycle has a minimal impact on terrestrial climate and does not
        explain the observed long term warming trend. Outside of that,
        maybe the sun did some unusual things in the remote past. But
        since we've been paying close attention, we just do not see the
        sun brightening -- to the great benefit of every living thing
        on the planet I might add.

        Second, it's no coincidence there's sunlight beaming into our
        SUV in the image. The Sun: That's what drives the climate,
        it's the engine. For crying out loud, it's the first thing
        researchers have plugged into models and forecasts since the
        dawn of climate science and weather forecasting. To seriously
        contend that thousands of climate scientists just up and forgot
        about the sun's fundamental role on earth's climate for the
        last forty-years, or that they don't take the best, most up to
        date solar data gathered from dozens of surface and space-based
        observatories into account, is every bit as ludicrous as claiming
        NASA mission planners forgot about gravity.

        Lastly, and this is the clincher (Or should be for anyone with
        the mental agility of the average five-year old), if we do see
        the sun suddenly embark on sustained, highly unprecedented
        warming binge, then I have some frightening news: we are in
        the deepest shit of all time. That would rank as about the most
        significant, utterly goddamn terrifying event in human history.
        And were it true, saying it doesn't matter if we jump in and
        heat the planet like a sauna because, hey, the sun has gone
        whacky hot on us, is unusually, pathologically twisted 'logic'
        even for the nuttiest wingnut. It's akin to saying the best way
        to deal with an oncoming F-5 tornado is to sprint straight into
        the vortex. We can't control the sun, so controlling the thermal
        properties of our air, water, and land would be our sole option
        for survival on the surface of the planet if the sun suddenly
        starts heating up significantly.

---Rsk
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