Someone has been sorely misinformed!

I really don't get the thinking behind spreading misinformation. I mean, look where it's gotten us--into an unpopular war and with a president who has a 70 percent disapproval rating (depending on which poll you believe). You'd think we would have learned our lesson. Giving out anything less than the facts will result in disaster. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and newspapers are still printing misinformation from one Bjorn Lomborg, who claims to be a scientist but was discredited by his peers long before Al Gore brought global warming to the forefront.
I have heard some pretty ridiculous things about global warming, but none so completely off the mark as what I've read on Facebook. "We are in the midst of a global cooling scare, NOT global warming." The excuse given for this point of view is that temperatures in the Antarctic Ocean are still cool. This was predicted to happen. Icemelt does not automatically become warm to the human touch. Thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit isn't supposed to feel warm, but it doesn't mean that temperature is normal for that part of the world. Additionally, the ocean there is still buffering some of the pollution precisely BECAUSE it is cold. Does it mean there is no adverse effect? No. There are penguins in the area that are already suffering.
"Frankly, I'm looking forward to the warmer weather." What exactly do you think this warmer weather is going to mean? Desertification is predicted for a lot of the United States, including the Bread Basket. There is no way to grow the crops we currently rely on without rain. Desertification is exactly what it sounds like--lack of rain turns the land into a desert. Right now rain is associated with warmer weather, but there may come a time in the near future when it is not. If there is no water available to vaporize, it can't fall elsewhere. The rainforests of the Equator are known to produce their own rain. If they are cut down we lose that water source.
"As far as I can tell, all that will happen is that life will become a little more uncomfortable for us and we'll lose a few wildlife species." The idea of losing any species at all makes me profoundly sad, but the arrogance in this comment is the assumption that we do not count as wildlife. We may not see ourselves that way, but Mother Nature certainly does. A lot of diseases are predicted to move north as the climate warms--indeed, they already are. Bat colonies on the East Coast are dying from a mysterious disease that leaves their noses white. Honey bees in California are dying, and the plants that they usually pollinate die off. For years there have been cases of diseases deadly to humans being carried by rodents in the southwest. I counted 7 vaccinations I needed in preparation to visit British Guyana. How many people are willing to go get vaccinated against yellow fever and faithfully take a quinine pill the size of a large bumblebee every week? I was lucky in that I did not suffer any side effects from the quinine, but a number of people in my group did.
"The ice caps aren't melting." I have nothing to say to this, except that if that's what you truly believe then you haven't been paying attention to anything.
So why do I read this stuff? There isn't really anything I can say to these people to make them change their minds. Very few of them go onto the political boards there with open minds (although I can include myself in this at times). It's hard to read or type a full explanation of the matter on a computer messageboard. It is important to know what people are saying, and it is definitely an eye-opener for me. I am reasonably grounded in the scientific background of this phenomenon, as are many people who read this blog. I am constantly amazed at all the deniers out there who refuse to see what is right in front of them. The only think I can think of is that they don't want it to be happening. I don't want it to be happening, either. Science has enough problems right now without adding another one into the mix. Unfortunately, we can't just ignore a problem and hope that it goes away. I choose to be part of the solution.