So much Co2, so little time.   Last year was a whilrlwind of global warming stories.   I don't think I blogged more stories on any other topic.

Well, it is a new year and all new madness awaiting us.

So I couldn't let 2008 come without a quick summary of how 2007 ended in the global warming wars, and how 2008 is shaping up.

We start with a story from congress you likely won't hear on the TV:

Senate Report: Over 400 Scientists Dispute Manmade Global Warming

So, the debate is over, right? The science is settled?

Well, according to a report just published at the United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public works website, over 400 prominent scientists from all over the world have "voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called ‘consensus' on man-made global warming."

As it appears a metaphysical certitude green media will totally boycott these revelations, NewsBusters is presenting some of the findings:

Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore.

The new report issued by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's office of the GOP Ranking Member details the views of the scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom spoke out in 2007.

Even some in the establishment media now appear to be taking notice of the growing number of skeptical scientists. In October, the Washington Post Staff Writer Juliet Eilperin conceded the obvious, writing that climate skeptics "appear to be expanding rather than shrinking."

 This is interesting though....

Many scientists from around the world have dubbed 2007 as the year man-made global warming fears "bite the dust." (LINK) In addition, many scientists who are also progressive environmentalists believe climate fear promotion has "co-opted" the green movement. (LINK)

Has global warming preoccupied the green movement?  Of course it has.

File this next one under stupid laws:

Incandescent stupidity: Washington outlaws 100-watt lightbulbs

You know the energy bill that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law today? Tucked into the legislation is a provision that mandates the phase-out of the 125-year-old incandescent bulb in the next four to 12 years in favor of a new generation of trendy, supposedly energy-efficient Gorebulbs.

First, Australia. Then the EU. And now us. Well-intended bulb-pushers said they weren’t supporting mandates. Just “voluntary adoption” of lighting alternatives. But the road to eco-meddling is always paved with “voluntary” intentions–along with threats to your children that if you don’t volunteer to buy environmentally correct lights, Santa and his reindeer will DIE DIE DIE!

Now, from Russia, a scientists offers advice on what to invest in, and it isn't green bulbs:

 A cold spell soon to replace global warming

Stock up on fur coats and felt boots! This is my paradoxical advice to the warm world.

Earth is now at the peak of one of its passing warm spells. It started in the 17th century when there was no industrial influence on the climate to speak of and no such thing as the hothouse effect. The current warming is evidently a natural process and utterly independent of hothouse gases.

I'll pick one up next pay day.

Meanwhile, on Saturn, which hasn't had an industrial revolution:

Scientists find hot spot on Saturn's chilly pole Saturn's chilly north pole boasts a hot spot of compressed air, a surprising discovery that could shed light on other planets within our own solar system and beyond, researchers said on Thursday.

Scientists already knew about a hot spot at Saturn's sunny south pole but data from the Cassini spacecraft now shows that the winter pole drenched in darkness also has a hot spot, said Nick Teanby, a planetary scientist, who worked on the study.

"With this Cassini mission we can also see the winter pole, which we are not able to see from Earth because of the tilt of the planet," said Teanby of the University of Oxford. "We didn't expect it to have a hot spot at the north."

Obviously one of the evil corporations is secretly funding a manufacturing plant there....

The CBC offers this compromise:  It's only partly our fault:

CBC: Only Partly Your Fault

From the CBC:

There's more to the recent dramatic and alarming thawing of the Arctic region than can be explained by man-made global warming alone, a new study found. Nature is pushing the Arctic to the edge, too....

"Think of it as a boxer that's almost going down for the count … and that one blow to the noggin comes and he's down for the count," said Serreze, a senior scientist at the U.S. government's snow and ice data centre in Boulder, Colo.

So now the Arctic was "almost going down for the count" and you punched it in the head, or ran it over with your SUV as the case may be. Still, it almost sounds like they aren't exactly sure why the Arctic has melted so rapidly over the last few years. Meanwhile, its 11 degrees outside and Drudge has posted this story:

2008 will be slightly cooler than recent years globally but will still be among the top 10 warmest years on record since 1850 and should not be seen as a sign global warming was on the wane, British forecasters said.

The Met Office and experts at the University of East Anglia on Thursday said global average temperatures this year would be 0.37 of a degree Celsius above the long-term 1961-1990 average of 14 degrees and be the coolest since 2000.

It certainly feels cooler. But two things here trouble me. First, I just don't buy that anyone can say with confidence what the global mean temperature was in 1850. NASA recently revised temperature data for the 1990s. It seems entirely possible, if not likely, that some bright guy will come along and point out that temperature estimates for the 19th century failed to account for some crucial factor (laudanum drinking meteorologists?) . Also, who cares what the 1961-1990 average was? Of those three decades, one--the 1970s--was so freakishly cold that it prompted widespread fears of a new ice age. It stands to reason that the average of the three would be pretty cold.

And the final story, my personal favorite:  It's so hot that:

Frozen Iguanas Fall From Florida Trees

It's raining iguanas in South Florida.

A remarkable cold snap that brought temperatures in the mid-30s to the Miami area Thursday morning also brought lizards falling out of trees at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne, the Miami Herald reported.

"We have found dozens on the bike path after a major cold snap," said park manager Robert Yero. "When they warm up in the sun, they come back to life."

Ya can't make this stuff up, I swear....

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