One of Al Gore’s favorite tactics is showing graphical heart rending examples of how global warming is ruining the world.  The Polar Bears drowning has been previously debunked, and now another one of his tragic examples is laid open to debate as to its accuracy.

In his movie he claims, and shows pictures to validate his claim, that Mt Kilimanjaro’s ice cap is melting and will disappear within 15 years.  A scary pronouncement indeed, except it has a slight problem:

Most of the melting happened prior to 1953, and has been happening for more than a century.

The woes of Kilimanjaro: Don’t blame global warming

The “snows” of Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro inspired the title of an iconic American short story, but now its dwindling icecap is being cited as proof for human-induced global warming.

However, two researchers writing in the July-August edition of American Scientist magazine say global warming has nothing to do with the decline of Kilimanjaro’s ice, and using the mountain in northern Tanzania as a “poster child” for climate change is simply inaccurate.

“There are dozens, if not hundreds, of photos of midlatitude glaciers you could show where there is absolutely no question that they are declining in response to the warming atmosphere,” said climatologist Philip Mote, a University of Washington research scientist.

But in the tropics — particularly on Kilimanjaro — processes are at work that are far different from those that have diminished glacial ice in temperate regions closer to the poles, he said.

Mote and Georg Kaser, a glaciologist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, write in American Scientist that the decline in Kilimanjaro’s ice has been going on for more than a century and that most of it occurred before 1953, while evidence of atmospheric warming there before 1970 is inconclusive.

So again, Al takes non-related facts that appear to support his conclusions visually and arranges them into evidence to validate his theories.

Denver has plowed ahead with its own brand of action to stop Global Warming:

Denver targets global warming-  Goal is equivalent of taking 500,000 vehicles off road

Denver is gearing up to fight global warming, and residents may soon be asked to make personal sacrifices to help save the planet.

The new plan is aimed at making Denver a national leader in reducing gas emissions that have been linked to global warming, giving a major push to alternative energy, stepping up recycling and changing building codes to encourage energy conservation.

But the proposal also contains some ideas that may be unpopular, such as penalizing heavy users of electricity and natural gas and basing auto insurance premiums on the number of miles traveled.

The ambitious goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.4 million metric tons by 2020, the equivalent of eliminating two small coal-fired power plants or taking 500,000 cars off the road.

I have to say that is the most oppressive plan I have read yet.  And the most useless, as every 7-10 days China and India open a new Coal fired plant (by 2012 China will have added 562 and India 213).  Pity they are not covered by the also useless Kyoto protocols.

So in essence, Denver is playing feel good-do nothing politics, at the expense of its citizens.

Ironically:

Residents of Colorado’s Front Range awoke Friday morning to frost-covered windshields as temperatures dropped to the lowest readings in over 50 years.

Just one day later they were at local pools enjoying temperatures in the mid-80s.

The temperature at Denver International Airport fell to 31 degrees at 5:44 a.m. Friday, setting a new record low for the date.

Yea, gotta love the warming….

And finally, there is a new study suggesting that the number of stray cats is being influenced by, you guessed it, Global Warming.

Animal Group Blames Cat Influx on … Global Warming…

A coalition of animal shelters says there has been a “dramatic” increase in the number of cats brought in - and it blames the trend on global warming.

“Today more than ever, animal shelters across the United States are reporting skyrocketing influxes of cats and kittens being brought into their agencies,” Pets Across America said in a statement.

According to the group’s president, Kathy Warnick, “many believe global warming is extending cat breeding seasons and causing the cat population to swell.”

“Cats are typically warm-weather, spring-time breeders,” said Warnick, who also serves as president of the Humane Society of Missouri. “However, states that typically experience primarily longer and colder winters are now seeing shorter, warmer winters, leading to year-round breeding.

“Basically, there is no longer a reproduction lull with cat breeding cycles and unfortunately, it seems more people are bringing boxes of kittens into our agencies during winter now.”

Of course, how much have we warmed?

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the mean temperature in the United States rose less than one degree Fahrenheit (0.66) from 2005 to 2006.

Right, that’ll do it.

Kelli Ferris, an assistant professor at the North Carolina State University School of Veterinary Medicine, sounded dubious about the claims.

“The increase in the numbers of homeless friendly and feral cats in many parts of the country involves so many factors that I think it would be extremely difficult to quantitatively evaluate the contribution of subtle changes in the environment,” she told Cybercast News Service.

Ferris noted that increases in human population and the availability of food could be a factor 

Oh now come on, you cannot be blaming people for this can you?

She cited “factors of irresponsible pet ownership that are variable between regions of the country and across individual states.” Also increased percentages of households that own cats have been documented over the past 30 years - a trend she said means that “there are more opportunities for cats to be released in to the environment.”

I guess so.

All in all an interesting week for Global Warming. 

 Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Right Pundits, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Virtuous Republic, Committees of Correspondence, DeMediacratic Nation, Maggie’s Notebook, On the Horizon, The Pet Haven Blog, DragonLady’s World, Webloggin, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, The Yankee Sailor, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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