The U.S. economy shrank by 0.7 in the first quarter of 2015 as harsh weather dampened consumer spending and energy companies struggling with low prices slashed spending.
Gross domestic product contracted at a 0.7% percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said Thursday, coming dangerously close to a recession. That was a big step down from the fourth quarter’s 2.2 percent rise and does not bode well for the rest of the year.
This winter’s cold Climate Disruption
has caused a big growth interruption.
When it’s warm it is good
makes the plants grow more food.
This CO2 scare: Just corruption.
CO2 concentration has increased from about 280 ppm in pre-industrial times to over 400 ppm today, and is increasing at a rate of 2 ppm per year. We are way past the point of no return, 350 ppm which would lead to a temperature catastrophe. But instead, something rather interesting is occurring. The earth is getting greener! This 40 % increase in CO2 the last 250 years has led to a more than 30 % increase in agricultural production all by itself without adding fertilizer or using higher yielding seeds. Thanks to this we can now feed an additional two billion people on earth without starvation. The news are so good, that the per capita food production is increasing, even as the population is increasing.
Look at it this way. The value of basic agricultural products is more than 1.5 trillion dollars worldwide. 30% of that is due to increased CO2. That means that the CO2 emitted is worth 450 billion dollars, spread out over all farmers and ranchers worldwide. This wealth transfer is occurring right now, and knows no national boundary. It is a gift from the developed countries to the rest of the world. Who could be against that?
It turns out that this wealth transfer occurs without global governance. The leaders of the world will not have their say in who gets the wealth transfer, the U.N. bureaucrats will not get their cut, and politicians cannot get a campaign issue since it occurs without their involvement.
U.S. economic growth nearly stalled in the first quarter as harsh weather dampened consumer spending and energy companies struggling with low prices slashed spending.
Gross domestic product expanded at an only 0.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. That was a big step down from the fourth quarter’s 2.2 percent pace and marked the weakest reading in a year
This winter’s cold Climate Disruption
has caused a big growth interruption.
When it’s warm it is good
makes the plants grow more food.
More CO2: Food distribution.
CO2 concentration has increased from about 280 ppm in pre-industrial times to nearly 400 ppm today, and is increasing at a rate of 2 ppm per year. We are way past the point of no return, 350 ppm which would lead to a temperature catastrophe. But instead, something rather interesting is occurring. The earth is getting greener! This 40 % increase in CO2 the last 250 years has led to a more than 30 % increase in agricultural production all by itself without adding fertilizer or using higher yielding seeds. Thanks to this we can now feed an additional two billion people on earth without starvation. The news are so good, that the per capita food production is increasing, even as the population is increasing.
Look at it this way. The value of basic agricultural products is more than 1.5 trillion dollars worldwide. 30% of that is due to increased CO2. That means that the CO2 emitted is worth 450 billion dollars, spread out over all farmers and ranchers worldwide. This wealth transfer is occurring right now, and knows no national boundary. It is a gift from the developed countries to the rest of the world. Who could be against that?
It turns out that this wealth transfer occurs without global governance. The leaders of the world will not have their say in who gets the wealth transfer, the U.N. bureaucrats will not get their cut, and politicians cannot get a campaign issue since it occurs without their involvement.
The coldest winter half-year in over a century!! It’s climate change all right. More CO2, please!!
I am sitting in my office in Boalsburg, Pa. looking at the bird feeder. The birds are as busy as ever feeding. It is 15 degrees F so they need the food. Some song birds have come, the Robins are bobbing, but where is the spring? Last night the report on the satellite data came out via CFACT and it showed we had the coldest winter half-year (equinox to equinox) in over a century! Only two years ago we had the warmest winter ever. This was well publicized. Will this be equally treated?
The other figure is the maximum snow cover for the season in the Northern Hemisphere. It has been growing in the last 50 years. This year was no exception with total snow well above the trend line.
I take more stock in snow totals than temperature measurements. The freezing point of water doesn’t change. Many temperature stations are placed in airports near the runways. This is fine and good for the pilots that must rely on the micro climate of the runways to make proper take-off and landing calculations, but they do not show the true temperature away from the airport.
I maintain we are more likely to have a new little ice-age than a temperature run-away because of CO2 rise.
The Great lakes had the greatest ice cover in over 35 years:
The "vortex" has chilled the Great Lakes. Keep shov'ling those "Climate Change" flakes! For new records are set Warmers losing their bet. It's cold on our yearly "Spring Breaks".
The values for ice coverage on the Great Lakes as of Mar 4:
Lake Superior 95.2889%
Lake Michigan 92.4497%
Lake Huron 95.9375%
Lake Erie 95.8338%
Lake Ontario 31.9431%, the weighted average 91,0% (data from http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/statistic/ice/ice_stat_2013_2014.txt )
The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are now at the greatest ice cover since 1979, the second highest value since accurate records are kept with a couple of cold nights left to go. The average for the last 40 years is an ice maximum of 51.4%. See fig:
There is still an arctic blast ongoing. Detroit had a new snow record for January. It will take a long time to melt all this ice and snow come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) . This may affect the length of the growing season.
What we have here is a return to the old Baal worship, much condemned in the Bible. Elijah’s epic challenge at the mount of Carmel comes to mind. The Asherah poles (or groves) everywhere on prominent places in the middle East gives an illustration how widespread it was among the Canaanite’s and adopted by the Israelites. A short excerpt from a sermon by pastor John Mabray of Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Va. explains it like this: Ritualistic Baal worship looked like this: Adults would gather around the altar of Baal. Infants would then be burned alive as a sacrificial offering to the deity. Amid horrific screams and the stench of charred human flesh, congregants – men and women alike – would engage in bisexual orgies. The ritual of convenience was intended to produce economic prosperity by prompting Baal to bring rain for the fertility of “mother earth.” The natural consequences of such behavior – pregnancy and childbirth – and the associated financial burdens of “unplanned parenthood” were easily offset. One could either choose to engage in homosexual conduct or – with child sacrifice available on demand – could simply take part in another fertility ceremony to “terminate” the unwanted child. So this is what modern progressives are reduced to. It is an old religion in new clothes, and it has incorporated the environmental movement. Since it is a religion Government has no business regulating it, including “Cap and trade” The Limerick: On this little movie I’ll hold my applause, exploding of children just for “a good cause”, for it lowers the bar, have we now sunk this far? It’s freedom of speech, the establishment clause.
The Great Lakes are freezing over at a rapid rate. These are the numbers for the ice cover as of Feb. 11 (Feb 12)
Lake Superior 95.2793% (94.5851%)
Lake Michigan 79.9828% (82.3368%)
Lake Huron 94.7123% (95.4659%)
Lake Erie 95.8686% (95.773%)
Lake Ontario 31.9431%, the weighted average 86.7% (88%) (data from http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/statistic/ice/ice_stat_2013_2014.txt )
The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are already at the greatest ice cover since 1994 with a good part of the winter still left to go. The average for the last 40 years is an ice maximum of 51.4%. See fig:
There is still an arctic blast ongoing. Detroit had a new snow record for January. It will take a long time to melt all this ice and snow come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) . This may affect the length of the growing season.
The Great Lakes are freezing over at a rapid rate. These are the numbers for the ice cover as of Feb. 4:
Lake Superior 91.6753%
Lake Michigan 56.3514%
Lake Huron 84.5919%
Lake Erie 92.6251%
Lake Ontario 30.7342%, the weighted average 76.93%
The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are already at the greatest ice cover since 1996 with a good part of the winter still left to go. The average for the last 40 years is an ice maximum of 51.4%. See fig:
Here is a picture of the ice cover for Feb 4. Brr, and arctic blasts keep coming!! It will take a long time to melt all this ice come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) so you can take a dip.
The Great Lakes are freezing over at a rapid rate. These are the numbers for ice cover for Jan. 23:
Lake Superior 57.2062%
Lake Michigan 37.7962%
Lake Huron 75.7721%
Lake Erie 94.8880%
Lake Ontario 42.9223%, the weighted average 60.02%
The forecast from NOAA was for 58 to 62% maximum ice-cover for 2014. We are already there with half the winter yet to go. The average for the last 40 years is a max. of 51.4%. See fig:
Here is a picture of the ice cover for Jan 23. Brr, and a new, longer lasting arctic blast is under way!! It will take a long time to melt all this ice come spring. It takes 80 calories to melt one gram of ice, but only twenty to heat it from zero to 20 degrees C (68 F) so you can take a dip.
The environmental fear-mongers never cease to amaze me. In an effort to publicize the impending global catastrophe of rapidly melting ice caps a Russian “research vessel” AKADEMIK SHOKALSKIY
set out to recreate the British explorer Douglas Mawson’s travel to Commonwealth Bay in 1912. A film (now a U-tube video) has been found showing Mawson landing in ice free Commonwealth Bay where he landed Jan 8, 1912.
That was then, the movie showing an ice free Commonwealth Bay around New Year. Everybody knows the Ice-caps are melting, so BBC and Australian ABC, financed by tax-payers money set out to report the re-enactment of his journey to highlight the impending incredible melting of the ice caps. There were tourists on the ship also, paying their own way wanting to see a glimpse of the rapidly melting ice before it was all gone.
Things did not turn out exactly as planned. With the ship moving ahead at full speed the crew ignored all warning signals and plowed ahead through ice that seemed to be thicker than expected. “But this is mid-summer, so the ice must be rotten” they thought and continued full speed ahead anyway. Then the wind picked up, not unexpectedly, since Commonwealth Bay holds the distinction of being the windiest place on earth, even windier than the Aleutian Islands or Mount Washington, and soon the ice closed in on the ship and got it stuck in more than 6 feet of ice.
Three ice breaking vessels, a Chinese, a French and an Australian tried to come to the rescue, but their crews had the good judgment of turning back before they got stuck too. A helicopter from the Chinese ice breaker is now near the ship, but cannot evacuate the 52 passengers until the winds calm down.
Maybe they should have looked at the statistical data on ice in the Antarctic before risking their lives and the lives of others before taking on such a fools errand.
The Ice in the Antarctic is now 1.529 million square kilometer larger than the 30 year average for this time of the year, a 30% increase over the 30 year average, and obviously more than in 1912..
By comparison the North Atlantic ice cap is now only 4 % below average for this time of the year. We hear of the melting ice caps all the time. Why is not the fact that the Antarctic ice cap has set new absolute records since measurements started two years in a row reported? Are journalists afraid of the truth, being scared to be called a skeptic, even a denier, if they mention statistically relevant data? Until people face up to the truth calamities like this are bound to occur. Look at the data before you set sail!
So what are the “Scientists” reporting back to their sponsors? Here is a sample of what they are reporting:
ICE-STRANDED EXPLORERS’ MESSAGE:
A statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition:
We’re stuck in our own experiment. We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by trapping ice. We followed Sir Douglas Mawson’s footsteps into Commonwealth Bay, and are now ourselves trapped by ice surrounding our ship.
Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up. We have found this has changed the system on many levels. The increase in sea ice has freshened the seawater below, so much so that you can almost drink it. This change will have impacts on the deep ocean circulation.
Underwater, forests of algae are dying as sea-ice blocks the light. Who can say what effects the regional circulation changes may have on the ice sheet of the Antarctic plateau, or whether the low number of seals suggests changes to their population.
Still not acknowledging the rise in the total amount of sea ice. A sad state for a scientist. He still believes in the failing models rather than observing and drawing conclusions from how nature really behaves.
Update:
An Icy Blast Of Scepticism Greets Climate Expedition
Rescuers in Antarctica have safely transferred all 52 passengers stranded on the ice-bound research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy. The Shokalskiy has been trapped since Christmas Eve. Its 22 crew are expected to remain on board to wait until the vessel becomes free. The ice-bound research vessel has been trapped since Christmas Eve. One of the aims is to track how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice is disappearing. –BBC News, 2 January 2014
Update 2:
The Chinese icebreaker that supplied the helicopter for the rescue mission is now stuck in the ice too. How inconvenient.
Update 3, Jan 7 2014: Antarctic rescue operations complete.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority can confirm that the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long have broken free from the ice in Antarctica and are no longer in need of assistance.
Records are falling all over the place. Continental U.S. has had a week for the records
Low Temp: 606 + Low Max temp 1234 + Snowfall 385 = 2225 new cold records.
Compare with 98 high temperature records, and 141 high minimum temperature records.
Source: NOAA National Weather Service and HamWeather records center
But that is only here in parts of the U.S, right?
Not so.
Cairo is a city known for being hot and stuffy.
But as these incredible pictures show, things have changed.
The Egyptian capital has seen snowfall for the first time in 112 years.
As reported by Buzzfeed, Egyptians who had witnessed snow for the first time in their lives were left amazed – with the Arabic word for snow trending on Twitter.
Incredible pictures showing the normally sultry city were also posted on twitter.
A camel looks strangely out of place.
Even in swank uptown Cairo the snow is heavy.
Other countries including Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel also experienced widespread snow.
Temperatures have dropped so much that in Turkey they have been below the monthly average by almost 10C.
Still believe there is global warming?
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 