Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Last Stand

SP&T is doing an interesting series titled “The Last Stand”. This is a very relevant topic and most certainly an issue of concern (primarily as it relates to fire and safety issues). One upside is that campers and backpackers will have much more fuel for their campfires!

So far, the SP&T reporting on this appears to be slightly more balanced than the CO2-centric propaganda offered by NPR on the same subject. But, I am not convinced that the reporting and associated commentary is entirely accurate and objective.

Click the image and read
the associated commentary
which I am commenting on here:

Click the image and read the associated commentary which I am commenting on here
Image from Flickr and photographer Harley Mac

Is the pine beetle “epidemic” “unprecedented in its scope”
and not “the latest iteration of a cyclical natural phenomena”?

If so, where is the proof?
Or is this just more unproven alarmist rhetoric?


Click the image to view a quote
from this source (page 3, Summary):

Click this image to view the quote


Misguided forest management policies may (or may not) have resulted in larger absolute quantities of beetle killed trees. But, as a percentage of the overall total? Maybe. Maybe not. Show me the data!

Anybody concerned with the “gradual warming of the Earth’s temperatures” and what impact that may or may not have on the pine beetle issue should note the following per NOAA:

1) 2008, year to date, the mean temperature in the lower 48 was 48.42F.

2) From 1895 to 2008, the average mean temperature in the lower 48 for the same YTD period was slightly HIGHER at 48.47F.

3) The winter of 2007/2008 saw a mean temperature in the lower 48 of 33.18F.

4) From 1895 to 2008, the average mean temperature in the lower 48 for the same winter period was 33.06F (0.12F colder).


Perfectly natural forces result in the climate changing all the time. From 1934 to 1979 we saw a cooling trend. From 1979 to 1998, we saw a warming trend. Since 1998, we’ve been in another cooling trend. All this and more can be verified at this NOAA page.

For additional climate change observations,
click the image below:




1 comment:

SBVOR said...

SP&T just won’t learn.

Here they go again (on 8/17/08):

“In an epidemic unprecedented in its scale, the mountain pine beetle is decimating forests across the Rocky Mountain West and beyond. In just three to five years, the majority of Colorado’s large-diameter lodgepole pine trees will be dead.”

How can they reconcile “the majority of Colorado’s large-diameter lodgepole pine trees will be dead” against this quote from this source and still assert that current conditions are “an epidemic unprecedented in its scale”?

Answer: They can’t. And, they don’t even try. They just keep peddling the same tired old sensationalist hysteria with apparently little or no regard for accuracy.

In other words, they behave like typical so-called “journalists”.