NASA-funded National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) image taken from dailymail.co.uk

National Geographic has an extensive article titled “Rising Seas” in the September 2013 magazine. The first several pages are about the massive destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy. The article then turns to making dire predictions. “By releasing carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases into the atmosphere, we have warmed the Earth by more than a full degree Fahrenheit over the past century and raised sea level by about eight inches. Even if we stopped burning all fossil fuels tomorrow, the existing greenhouse gases will continue to warm the Earth for centuries. That report is countered by an article by David Rose that the Arctic ice cap grew by almost a million square miles and increased coverage by 60% in 2012.

NASA-funded National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) image taken from dailymail.co.uk

It is difficult to remain a skeptic about the predicted dire effects of global warming when the prestigious National Geographic assures me I am wrong. However, it is certain that there have been predictions that global warming should have already had dire consequences. The BBC reported six years ago that the Arctic would be ice-free by this past summer. Twenty yachts that planned to sail the Northwest Passage, perhaps lured by the incorrect predictions, have been left ice-bound. The large increase in Arctic ice was caused by a “chilly Arctic Summer.” The United Nations panel planning to publish a “climate change report” is struggling to explain why temperatures have defied the computer models by not changing since 1997.

Some scientists are now beginning to talk about the possibility of a period of cooling that might not end until the middle of this century. Perhaps that is why the UN report refers to “climate change.” The climate always changes, so predicting climate change is a sure thing.