If you've never heard of kudzu, that wonderful Japanese vine imported into the U.S. back in the late 19th century, you have never visited Georgia or any of the states of the deep South. It thrived here and is headed north. As if you needed any more proof of global warming, this is just one more piece: As the climate warms, the vine that ate the U.S. South is starting to gnaw at parts of the North[/URL], too. Kudzu, a three-leafed weed first planted in the U.S. more than 100 years ago for the beauty of its purple blossoms, has been spotted in every county in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. It chokes young trees, brings down power lines and infests abandoned homes. Now the plant, which can grow as fast as a foot (30 cm) per day, is creeping northward, wrapping itself around smokestacks in Ohio, overwhelming Illinois backyards and even jumping Lake Erie to establish a beachhead in Ontario, Canada. The invasive plant costs U.S. property owners about $50 million per year in eradication, according to the Nature Conservancy. Other estimates are 10 times higher. Agronomists and landscapers fear what the U.S. Department of Agricultures Lewis Ziska calls the star of a bad 1950s science-fiction plant movie will continue to expand its role, making a nuisance and carrying a disease devastating to soybeans. Climate change is partly to blame, Ziska said, with the average U.S. temperature rising as much as 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, most of that since 1970, according to the National Climate Assessment issued by the White House in May. The one thing thats kept these invasives in check has always been cold weather, said Ziska, a plant physiologist at the USDAs Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland. As the winters warm as a result of a changing climate, that more or less opens up a Pandoras box of where these invasives can show up in the future.
Global warming is real just like global cooling is real. The earth goes through cycles hence all the Ice Ages, Mini Ice Ages and tropical periods over the last few billion years. The question is how much IF any of the current cycle, be it warming or cooling, is man contributing to and accelerating the process.
I always thought the fact that massive glaciers covering the U.S. and Eurpope melted 25,000 years ago was indicative of a warming trend. I didn't have to pay corrupt scientists billions to tell me that, either.
Until recently there were several highly successful attempts to harvest kudzu and turn it into high-grade bio fuel. However, farmers who grow corn to sell for making ethanol didn't like the competition and lobbied, with the support of the Obama administration, against using kudzu for fuel. Kudzu, once a promising biofuel with the potential to make the United States energy independent, is no longer being harvested.
Yes, the earth goes through natural cycles of warming and cooling - no question. So, in our present period (like the last hundred years or so), has human activity increased the output of CO2 in the atmosphere and is CO2 a greenhouse gas? The answer to both is a most definite yes: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In 2012, CO2 accounted for about 82% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the Earth's carbon cycle (the natural circulation of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and animals). Human activities are altering the carbon cycleboth by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere and by influencing the ability of natural sinks, like forests, to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. While CO2 emissions come from a variety of natural sources, human-related emissions are responsible for the increase that has occurred in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. I suppose you could claim, even today, to be an agnostic when it comes to religion and belief in God, but that position no longer holds today in the face of the insurmountable evidence that has accumulated in many different scientific fields about climate change and how WE, THE PEOPLE are contributing to it. Is the science on it settled? Well, first, science is never, ever settled which is what makes it science, so there is always room for new discoveries and modifications to the theories. However, if you expect anyone to come along today and totally upset what we know and have theorized about global warming and our role in it, well, there's a mountain of evidence they'd have to incorporate in their theory and it just ain't about to happen.
Kudzu is nothing more than a pure example of Man's stupidity in bringing things to where they don't belong.
Great link. Really learned a lot. Totally blew the last 50 years of science on the subject right out of the water.
If you ask a liberal overlord they will say yes completely ...but then these are the same people who have something to gain by imposing more taxes and regulations that put everybody in financial distress. If you ask a liberal voter they will say yes completely ...but then these are the same people who actually believe that the "fix" to something that occurs naturally is more taxes and regulations. If you ask somebody who isn't trying to hurt you or who isn't a sheep ...you'll find the answer is yes but only in the sense that spitting into the ocean is raising the sea level. CO2 is a trace gas, and mans contribution is a trace amount of that trace gas. You have to go ten zeros to the right of the decimal point in order to write the percentage of just how much man put up there. Liberals just want to scare you, cripple you, and manage your decline because its the only way they keep power. Their pattern is the same not only in this global warming scam, but in all their scams.
Cow farts contribute more to global warming then cars. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/11/26/big-methane-burp-cows-refineries-spew-gas/
Yeah. I'm having a real hard time coming to grips with that one. Then again, even if North America were in a cooling trend, the issue is global climate change, and specifically, warming.
I love all of these liberal failures. In the 1970s we were facing a New Ice Age. In the 1990s we weren't going to be able to venture outside because the Killer Bees would have dominance over the United States. Now we are being invaded by kudzu and, once again, the sky is falling.
Ok, the highlighted quote is, no doubt intended to assure us that CO2, being a trace gas, and our contribution to that an even more miniscule amount, couldn't possibly be causing global warming. Of course, that's just another right wing myth that's being sold to those who don't know science or won't trouble themselves to look it up. I did. And here's the answer:
You know whats really annoying? When liberals knowingly use the wrong words. "empirical evidence" instead of "unproven theory" "refugee" instead of "illegal invader" "affordable care act" instead of "population control" "racist" instead of "guy who calls me on my BS" ...and so on... And you know whats even more annoying than that? Your global warming scam has no fix! Even if all the quid pro quo "scientific proof" was true, there's nothing you can do about it! So why is the course of action one that further cripples our freedoms and drains our bank accounts? Man, you're being played here.
The kudzu must have shown up 15 years ago since the planet hasn't gotten warmer since then. Took people awhile to notice it I guess?
Bless your heart, is that all you got? I mean, I just blew up one of your myths and all you can do is hurl invectives? OK, I sort of expected that kind of response because I've been doing here what I've done for almost 40 years every time I've confronted a bunch of blowhard loudmouths which is to smack them upside the head with facts and expose their arguments as the nonsense they are. And their responses haven't been much different from yours (well, except for the ones who threatened to kill me).
You've been convinced that junk science is fact. You've been convinced that taxes and regulations can prevent something that occurs naturally. You've been convinced that accepting an inferior and more expensive alternative that can't even be provided to all people yet will fix a problem that doesn't even exist. I cant do anything for you big bear.
They had NIST calibrated thermometers in 1895? Can someone provide those calibration records? If not the data isn't useable.
Prove it. Taxes and regs cannot control nature. But they sure as hell can control or modify human activities that harm nature. Yep. Gotta be Republican speak here - deny, deny, deny .... WHOA! How about that!! Sure you can. Get yourself educated and think. (Hint - you won't find it on Fox, Rush, Sean or any of the others).
