"The gloomy global warming gang is no fun"

Great column from Ed Iverson on global warming in today's Daily News:

The cult of global warming is in panic mode. They have thrown their “Hail Mary” pass. They have played their trump card and here it is: “climate specialists” in Europe are now darn sure that global climate change is “very likely” due to human causes. “Very likely” translates to a solemn warning: there is a 90 percent certainty that man and his machines have gummed up the atmosphere so much that there is little chance of recovery.

Here we have the Greenhouse Gas Gang appealing to their “priesthood,” (in this case, socialist European scientists). What can the great unwashed masses possibly do but fall back in wonder? Unbelievers must either submit or have their papers confiscated. Surprisingly enough, much of the populace remains stubbornly unconvinced. There is deep-rooted suspicion back east in Hoboken. There is persistent skepticism out west in Elko. Thinking Americans can’t shake the notion that the pronouncements of “science” are largely influenced by loyalty to a belief system. The GGG is afraid that “we ain’t buyin’ it.” They are running low on ammo and they are starting to panic. The GGG will yammer on about “science”; but you will never hear them discuss history. Even a quick review of history destroys their carefully crafted house of cards. When have you ever read an article about global warming that tells the truth about the MWP or the LIA? What? Do you mean your sixth-grader came home from government school talking about Al Gore’s movie and never said anything about the 300 years from 900 to 1200 A.D. known as the Medieval Warm Period? These kids are told that melting polar ice masses will soon inundate coastal cities and that polar bears are dying on drifting ice floes; but how many of them ever learn about the Little Ice Age that began about 1400 and lasted well into the 19th century?

By 874 A.D., my Norwegian ancestors were colonizing Iceland where glaciers were much smaller than they are today. A century later, they were pressing on to Greenland, the voyage made much easier than it would be today because the sea-ice between the two islands was almost nonexistent. Tree rings dating from 1000 A.D. reveal high solar output and warmer temperatures. Radiocarbon dating from the period confirms that there were trees that grew in Canada far north of the modern timberline.

That is just the beginning of the interesting history that the GGG won’t ever mention. During the MWP, Estonia experienced rapid population growth based on successful cultivation of cereal grains. According to “The History of Estonia” by Tannberg, an astonishing 150,000 souls lived there by 1200 A.D.

Productive farms supported 70,000 Icelanders in 1100 A.D.; but by 1350, fishing had replaced cereal crops as the main source of food. By 1400 A.D., the old sea routes to Greenland were frozen solid and Greenland was totally abandoned. What had been a thriving vineyard industry in England during the MWP was wiped out by the freezing winters and damp, cool summers. Glaciers advanced all over the northern hemisphere, breaking through terminal moraines, blocking the medieval gold mines of the Hohe Tauern (high passes of the central Alps), and causing intermittent damming and flooding of towns. The coast of western Greenland began to submerge — not from a rising sea level; but because a much thicker ice sheet resulted in crustal depression.

By 1600, the LIA was in full advance and would not retreat until sometime during the 19th century. By 1850, Europe was again experiencing warm spring and summer weather. High pressure once again prevailed and there were early wine harvests all over the continent. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a marked decrease in sea ice around Iceland. Glaciers retreated rapidly everywhere except on Antarctica.

The globe sighed with relief. Earthlings could once again look forward to long growing seasons, mild winters, bountiful harvests, and comfortable weather. But hold on. What’s this you say? This warming period is the end of civilization as we know it? Well shoot. I guess there’s always something to spoil the fun.