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The big question about global warming is whether or not -- or to what extent -- it is the result of human activity. The information on this page will show that (1) the Sun is much more influential on our climate than all the industrial activity in the world, and (2) the Earth is self-regulating. Earth approaching sunspot records. The sun's recent activity, or lack thereof, may be linked to the pleasant summer temperatures the midwest has enjoyed this year, sai Charlie Perry, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Lawrence. The sun is at a low point of a deep solar minimum in which there are few to no sunspots on its surface. In July through August, 51 consecutive days passed without a spot, one day short of tying the record of 52 days from the early 1900s. Cloud cover and cosmic radiation. Greater solar activity means less cosmic radiation and less cloud cover; and less solar activity means more cosmic radiation and greater cloud cover. In this sense, scientists have confirmed that the total cloud cover over the Earth's surface, measured by satellites since 1979, oscillates between 65% and 68%, and this variation seems to have coincided, in terms of low cloud cover (up to an altitude of 3 km), with variations in the incoming cosmic radiation reaching the Earth. The sun and the oceans do not lie. [Scroll down] What makes this even odder is that the runaway warming predicted by their computer models simply isn't happening. Last week one of the four official sources of temperature measurement, compiled from satellite data by the University of Huntsville, Alabama, showed that temperatures have now fallen to their average level since satellite data began 30 years ago. Faced with a "consensus" view which looks increasingly implausible, a fast-growing body of reputable scientists from many countries has been coming up with a "counter-consensus", which holds that their fellow scientists have been looking in wholly the wrong direction to explain what is happening to the world's climate. The two factors which most plausibly explain what temperatures are actually doing are fluctuations in the radiation of the sun and the related shifting of ocean currents. Sun-Caused Warming: A team of international scientists has finally figured out why sunspots have a dramatic effect on the weather. It shows the folly of fearing the SUV while dismissing that thermonuclear furnace in the sky. Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate. Our concern about the environment, going back some 40 years, has taught us important lessons. It is one thing to impose drastic measures and harsh economic penalties when an environmental problem is clear-cut and severe. It is foolish to do so when the problem is largely hypothetical and not substantiated by observations. As NIPCC shows by offering an independent, non-governmental 'second opinion' on the 'global warming' issue, we do not currently have any convincing evidence or observations of significant climate change from other than natural causes. Cooling the Hysteria: Time to Ask the "Nasty Questions". Like doctrine, we've been told that the drought of the 1970s and 1980s in the African region is a tell-tale sign of anthropogenic global warming. But Mojib Latif, showing wide fluctuations in precipitation levels in the Sahel throughout the past century — including a probable reversal now from regional drought to rainfall — argues these "anomalies" can be traced to natural swings in the Atlantic's surface temperatures. Climate Change: Driven by the Ocean, not Human Activity. This paper discusses how the variation in the global ocean's Meridional Overturning Circulation resulting from changes in the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation and deep water Surrounding Antarctica Subsidence can be the primary cause of climate change. 'Quiet Sun' baffling astronomers. The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period. Last year, it was expected that it would have been hotting up after a quiet spell. But instead it hit a 50-year year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity. The missing sunspots: Is this the big chill? Scientists are baffled by what they're seeing on the Sun's surface — nothing at all. And this lack of activity could have a major impact on global warming. Future not so bright as sun dims. Sunspots — islands of magnetism on the sun's surface that appear darker when seen from Earth — are the most visible sign of an active sun. The fact that they are vanishing means we are heading into a period of solar lethargy. Where will it all end? Solar activity varies over an 11-year cycle, but it experiences longer-term variations, highs and lows that can last about a century. The sceptic's shadow of doubt. Professor Ian Plimer isn't short on confidence. Two weeks ago, Plimer, an award-winning geologist from the University of Adelaide, published Heaven + Earth, a 500-page argument against the idea that humans can dramatically affect climate. "Very few people know that the planet changes all the time — that we have these massive cycles driven by forces far greater than human forces — and in many ways it is my job as an educator to say 'look at the big canvas'," he tells The Age. Is the Sun a Global Warming Denier? The whole point is that climate is the most complex of systems, and that it is impossible — madness even — to try to predict future climates with respect to one politically-selected variable. So what precisely is all the fuss about this very big other variable, the Sun? Jack Eddy. Jack Eddy, who died on June 10 aged 78, was a solar astronomer best known for his demonstration that irregular variations in solar surface activity were associated with major shifts in the earth's climate. When Almost Everyone is Lying to You. Some five hundred people attended [a conference] to hear three days of lectures and seminars on the true science, the known science, regarding the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind, global warming. How can it be that millions can be led to believe the Earth is warming when, in fact, the warming that occurred following the end of the last Little Ice Age in 1850 was completely natural? Nothing "forced" it to occur as is the claim about the Industrial Revolution, the use of so-called fossil fuels, and an utterly false assertion that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary factor for the warming. Like all periods of warming (and cooling) the Sun was and is the primary factor. Everything else pales in comparison. Solar Activity And Climate Change: During the Maunder Minimum, a period of diminished solar activity between 1645 and 1715, sunspots were rare on the face of the sun, sometimes disappearing entirely for months to years. At the same time, Earth experienced a bitter cold period known as the "Little Ice Age." Were the events connected?  NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming. Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation. Skeptics, though, argue that there's little hard evidence of a solar hand in recent climate changes. Now, a new research report from a surprising source may help to lay this skepticism to rest. A study from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland looking at climate data over the past century has concluded that solar variation has made a significant impact on the Earth's climate. The report concludes that evidence for climate changes based on solar radiation can be traced back as far as the Industrial Revolution. Solar Scenarios. James A. Marusek, a nuclear physicist and engineer, recently wrote about the current [solar] cycle and I will excerpt his article. ... "We are now at a crossroad," writes Marusek. "Two paths lie before us. Down one path lies monstrous solar storms. Down the other path lies several decades of crushing cold temperatures and global famine." Our most current experience with the latter has been the cycle that began around 1998 when the Earth's average temperatures began to cool. It has been accompanied by glaciers that have begun to grow, increasing ice at the North and South Poles, and snowfall in desert nations that have not seen snow in their recorded history. Sun Plunges into the Quietest Solar Minimum in a Century. 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73 percent). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008. Maybe not. Solar activity lowest in nearly 100 years. U.S. solar physicists say the sun is experiencing the least sunspot activity since 1913 and activity is becoming less frequent. National Aeronautics and Space Administration solar physicist Dean Pesnell at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said during 2008 there were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days — 73 percent of the year. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. The Sun is More Active Now that in the Previous 1,000 Years. Scientists at the Zurich-based Institute for Astronomy have discovered that the frequency of sunspot activity coincides with global warming and cooling. Editor's Note: Obviously, if that's the case, no new legislation or federal spending will combat global warming — or cooling. The sun is a variable star. Objective scientists find that the evidence supporting a man-made global warming trend is at best skimpy. However, it cannot and should not be denied that climate changes take place and that they have done so since long before man even made an appearance on Earth. Based on many different indicators from widely varying sources, it has been found that our sun, a variable star, is a major and controlling influence on the extent and rate of long- and short-term climate changes affecting Earth. Solar Winds Cooling Warmist Doomsaying. Global warming alarmists face yet another challenge to their predictions of an inferno of doom. The solar wind is losing power, and is at a fifty year low, according to NASA. The Ulysses solar probe reports a 13% drop in temperature, a 20% drop in density, and a 30% drop-off in the sun's magnetic field, marking this as the weakest period of solar wind on record (records go back to the 1960's). What does this mean? A Spotless Sun. There's a wonderful irony in the fact that, back in the 1970s, the Greens were issuing warnings and even writing books about the coming Ice Age. They would abandon this issue, based in well-known and accepted solar science, in favor of a vast international hoax alleging man-made global warming. As the global warming hoax begins to lose its power to influence public opinion and policy, the Greens are not likely to be heeded for a long time to come because they were right about an Ice Age and lying through their teeth about global warming. Workshop speaker: Sunspots, not fossil fuels, agents of climate change. A photo of the sun showing an absence of sunspot activity during August captured the attention of about 350 ranchers in La Grande Saturday [1/17/2009] when Gary Sides, cattle nutritionist for Pfizer Animal Health, argued that changes in sunspot activity, not greenhouse gases, are primarily responsible for global climate change. Global warming has paused. Unfortunately, many scientists appear to forget that weather and climate also are controlled by nature, as we witness weather changes every day and climate changes in longer terms. During the last several years, I have suggested that it is important to identify the natural effects and subtract them from the temperature changes. Only then can we be sure of the man-made contributions. This suggestion brought me the dubious honor of being designated "Alaska's most famous climate change skeptic." New Report Calls into Question 'Man-Made' Climate Change. New scientific evidence suggests there is a stronger link between solar activity and climate trends on Earth than there is with greenhouse gases, Fred Singer, an atmospheric and space physicist, told CNSNews.com. The new data call into question whether scientific evidence shows that global warming is a man-made phenomenon and suggests that natural forces, as opposed to human activity, may drive global climate change. Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate. Our concern about the environment, going back some 40 years, has taught us important lessons. It is one thing to impose drastic measures and harsh economic penalties when an environmental problem is clear-cut and severe. It is foolish to do so when the problem is largely hypothetical and not substantiated by observations. New Hope for Global Warming Deniers. [Scroll down] The most fascinating and encouraging news for the deniers is from Australian astrophysicists I.R.G. Wilson, B.D. Carter, and I.A. Waite. They have developed a theory that the sunspot cycle and its intensity is driven by the gravitational relationships between the Sun and the Jovian planets Jupiter and Saturn. The Sun wobbles a bit around the center of the Solar System. Sometimes the center of the Solar System lies outside the surface of the Sun, only 1,000 times heavier than Jupiter and 3,000 times heavier than Saturn. All that wobbling seems to affect the behavior of the Sun. Astronomical Influences Affect Climate More Than CO2, Say Experts. Warming and cooling cycles are more directly tied in with astronomical influences than they are with human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, some scientists now say. Recent observations point to a strong link between "solar variability" — or fluctuations in the sun's radiation — and climate change on Earth, while other research sees the sun as just one of many heavenly bodies affecting global warming in the later half of the 20th century. Baliunas Says Global Warming Related To Sun. Dr. [Sallie] Baliunas' work with fellow Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer Willie Soon suggests global warming is more directly related to solar variability than to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, an alternative view to what's been widely publicized in the mainstream media. Global Warming: a Natural Cycle. The Idea-Channel, a non-profit educational company, created a 10-minute video in 2007 titled Unstoppable Global Cycles. Several scientists said that changes in temperature and climate are driven by the sun's natural cycles. "Climate is not a constant. We go through periods where it's much warmer and much cooler, and periods where it's wetter and dryer," said Dr. David R. Legates, of the Center for Climate Research at the University of Delaware. "The one thing we can say about climate in the future is that it will change." Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots. The sun has been lying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots and giving a break to satellites. That's good news for people who scramble when space weather interferes with their technology, but it became a point of discussion for the scientists who attended an international solar conference at Montana State University. Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century. The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted. The event is significant as many climatologists now believe solar magnetic activity — which determines the number of sunspots — is an influencing factor for climate on earth. Has Global Warming Research Misinterpreted Cloud Behavior? When researchers observe natural changes in clouds and temperature, they have traditionally assumed that the temperature change caused the clouds to change, and not the other way around. To the extent that the cloud changes actually cause temperature change, this can ultimately lead to overestimates of how sensitive Earth's climate is to our greenhouse gas emissions. This seemingly simple mix-up between cause and effect is the basis of a new paper that will appear in the "Journal of Climate." Interview with Dr. Don Easterbrook: For about 500 years we have 30–year periods where it gets warm/cold, warm/cold. We've been warming up about a degree per century since the Little Ice Age in about 1600. We've been warming for 400 years, long before human–generated CO2 could have anything to do with the climate. If we project the previous century into the coming one, my projection is that we will have about a half-a-degree of cooling from 2007 (plus or minus three to five years) to about 2040. Is climate sensitive to solar variability? The causes of global warming — the increase of approximately 0.8±0.1°C in the average global temperature near Earth's surface since 1900 — are not as apparent as some recent scientific publications and the popular media indicate. We contend that the changes in Earth's average surface temperature are directly linked to two distinctly different aspects of the Sun's dynamics: the short-term statistical fluctuations in the Sun's irradiance and the longer-term solar cycles. Solar Cycle 24: Implications for the United States: Do we live in a special time in which the laws of physics and nature are suspended? No, we do not. Can we expect relationships between the Sun's activity and climate, that we can see in data going back several hundred years, to continue for at least another 20 years? With absolute certainty. In this presentation, I will demonstrate that the Sun drives climate, and use that demonstrated relationship to predict the Earth's climate to 2030. Sun's Shifts May Cause Global Warming. Most leading climate experts don't agree with Henrik Svensmark, the 49-year-old director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen. ... His studies show that cosmic rays trigger cloud formation, suggesting that a high level of solar activity — which suppresses the flow of cosmic rays striking the atmosphere — could result in fewer clouds and a warmer planet. This, Svensmark contends, could account for most of the warming during the last century. Natural Forces, Not Man, Causing Global Warming, Scientist Says. Natural forces, not human activity, are primarily responsible for any global warming taking place, prominent atmospheric and space physicist Fred Singer declared Monday [3/3/2008] at the Heartland Institute's 2008 International Conference on Climate Change in New York City. What's more, the preponderance of scientific evidence about natural forces causing global warming is so great that the issue is settled, Singer said. Carbon Heat Trapping is Merely A Bit Player in Global Warming. New calculations show that doubling of carbon dioxide (CO2) will increase average global temperature by only about 1°F. or 0.55°C., much less than the range of 2°C. to 4.5°C. estimated by the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These new calculations are based on NASA supported spectral calculations available on the Internet relating to greenhouse gases. The temperature increases are estimated to be somewhat more in winter in the colder climates because of reduced competing atmosphere water vapor, but smaller increases at other times and places. The Global Warming Sceptic: Working for clean air and an unpolluted atmosphere is a laudable aim, but forgetting to compare the magnitude of man-made pollutants to the natural sources, or having an absolute faith in measurement data of often dubious origin, is unscientific at least, and foolish certainly. The climate is "the changing state of the atmosphere", so do not expect a steady state situation. Do not forget either that the sun is the engine which drives everything, and that the output of that engine is in constant change! Over 31,000 U.S. Scientists Deny Man-Made Global Warming. In 1998, Dr. Arthur Robinson, Director of the Oregon Institute for Science and Medicine, posted his first Global Warming skeptic petition, on the Institute's website. … Robinson's petition states a truth: "There is no convincing evidence that human release of CO2, methane or other greenhouse gases is causing or will cause, in the foreseeable future, catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate." What do these approx 32,000 scientists believe has caused the earth's warming since 1850 if it isn't CO2? He points to the sun. Robinson notes that over the past 150 years the sunspot index has predicted the Earth's temperature changes — with 79 percent accuracy — about ten years before they happen. The sunspots actually predicted the 2007 global temperature decline; the index turned down in 2000. The computer models didn't foresee it. Sun, Not Man, Main Cause of Climate Change, New Study Says. According to a new study on global warming, climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia found that the climate change models based on human influence do not match observed warming. In Hot Water: Ice Age Defrosted by Warming Ocean, Not Rise in CO2. Earth's climate can be sensitive, changing after a variety of events. A volcanic eruption or meteorite impact, for instance, can send enough particles into the air to block the sun and cool the climate. A thickening blanket of greenhouse gases can trap heat. And, more commonly, according to some scientists, slight changes in Earth's orientation toward the sun can cause it to cool or warm in so-called Milankovitch cycles (named after the Serbian engineer who first described them). Bushfires release huge carbon load. Victoria's bushfires have released a massive amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — almost equal to Australia's industrial emission for an entire year. Mark Adams, from the University of Sydney, said the emissions from bushfires were far beyond what could be contained through carbon capture and needed to be addressed in the next international agreement. Ancient global warming was jarring, not subtle, study finds. The global transition from ice age to greenhouse 300 million years ago was marked by repeated dips and rises in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and wild swings in temperature, with drastic effects on forests and vegetation, the researchers reported in the journal Science. … The provocative insight into planetary climate change counters the traditional view that global warming could be gradual and its regional effects easily anticipated. [This also negates the assumption that industrial activity and fossil fuels are to blame for global warming. I wonder why they didn't mention that in the article.] Earth's Climate Is Always Warming or Cooling. [Al] Gore, in his movie and elsewhere, never asks the key question: How much of current warming is due to natural causes? And how much is really human-caused? Anthropogenic warming is simply taken for granted as part of a claimed but nonexistent "complete" scientific consensus. The current warming trend is not unusual: Climate is always either warming or cooling, and ice is either melting or accumulating. A Bit of History for Global Warmers: Look at 1930. People sweltering from a heat wave in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. might find cold comfort in the fact that the temperatures of the past few days are not the hottest on record. That "honor" belongs to a summer 76 years ago — decades before the controversy over "man-made global warming" began. Cosmic rays and Earth's climate: Swedish researchers provided experimental evidence that cosmic rays may be a major factor in climate change. They calculated that just 5 years of cosmic ray activity can have 85 percent of the effect on the Earth's climate as 200 years of manmade carbon dioxide emissions. Though the study was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society A, the findings went largely unreported by the Al Gore-smitten media. Clouds Mitigate Global Warming, New Evidence Shows. In a study published in the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters on August 9, researchers at the University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH) provide more real-world evidence of the self-regulating nature of the Earth's atmosphere. If the self-regulatory mechanism is confirmed by additional research, it will represent yet another deal-breaker for the hypothesis that has propped up climate alarmism thus far. Solar-Climate Links Discerned From Tree-Ring Periodicities in Brazil and Chile Reference: Why have we chosen to highlight this particular study? We have done so simply because it is typical of a vast array of studies that have come to essentially the same conclusion, i.e., that cyclical solar-activity oscillations of many periodicities have always influenced earth's climate and always will. These studies are truly legion; and the veracity of their findings cannot be denied. Revising 1,000 Years of Climate History. One of the cornerstones of the global warming "call to action" is the claim that average global temperatures over the last 1,000 years have remained rather stable, except for the significant warming during the last 100 years. … However, considerable evidence exists that the climate of the last millennium fluctuated significantly – from a Medieval Warming period with temperatures comparable to today's averages to a colder Little Ice Age that persisted until late in the 19th century. The Earth's Temperature May Be Self Regulating: Thin, high cirrus clouds may help regulate global temperature and serve as a counter to global warming, theorize a team of scientists led by Richard Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recent Warming is Not Historically Unique: The pattern of frequent and rapid changes in climate throughout the Holocene indicates that the warming of the last 100 years is not a unique event and is thus not an indication of human impact on the climate, as is frequently claimed. Global Warming: A Chilling Perspective. Simultaneous warming on Mars This alone should be enough to make skeptics out of most people. Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says. Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural — and not a human-induced — cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory. Melting Mars Means Man-Made Global Warming is a Myth. Unfortunately, as this goes counter to the position of an alarmist media ... it seems quite unlikely that these revelations will be covered in today's papers or evening newscasts. Are SUVs causing global warming? Our nearby planetary neighbor Mars has also been undergoing some climatic changes recently. Space.com published an article that said, "Mars may be in the midst of a period of profound climate change, according to a new study that shows dramatic year-to-year losses of snow at the south pole." Mars Is Warming, NASA Scientists Report. According to a September 20 [2005] NASA news release, "for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress." Because a Martian year is approximately twice as long as an Earth year, the shrinking of the Martian polar ice cap has been ongoing for at least six Earth years. Global warming on Mars — without SUVs! Though not subject to pollutants of human habitation, Mars appears to be undergoing global warming, with new data suggesting the planet is possibly emerging from an ice age. Mars is warming. The planet Mars is undergoing significant global warming which supports many climatologists' claims that the Earth's modest warming during the past century is due to a recent upsurge in solar energy, says James M. Taylor, of the Heartland Institute. For three Mars summers, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near the planet's south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress, says Taylor. Doom and gloom, but no reliable data on global warming. Hurricane season will be upon us in another month or so. Even the highly respected and often quoted hurricane experts from Colorado State University specifically say the relatively high storm frequency is not due to global warming. … All the while, the planet Mars is warming, according to 30 years of NASA research. And I've never seen pictures of dirty smokestacks or horrendous traffic jams on Mars. A Primer on Global Warming. The National Aeronautic and Space Agency (NASA) has determined Mars, Pluto, Jupiter, and the largest moon of Neptune warmed at the same time the Earth recently warmed. It's the cows! The cows missed the movie. Two British news reports could not have come at a better time for Fred Singer, a scientist and global-warming denier, who has incurred the wrath of global-warming guru and former Vice President Al Gore. The Independent reported Sunday that a new U.N. report found that livestock is responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse gases. In other words, in the universe of global-warming alarmism, cow gas does more damage to [the] Earth than SUVs. Cows With Gas: India's Contribution to Global Warming. Indolent cows languidly chewing their cud while befuddled motorists honk and maneuver their vehicles around them is an image as stereotypically Indian as saffron-clad holy men and the Taj Mahal. Now, however, India's ubiquitous cows — of which there are 283 million, more than anywhere else in the world — are assuming a more menacing role as they become part of the climate-change debate. Of Flatulent Cows and Liberal Madness. The other day we were once again warned about that dire danger to our existence — cow flatulence. It just so turns out that the gaseous emissions of the bovine digestive tract account for more greenhouse gasses than all the SUVs, airplanes, trucks and cars combined. In other words, as far as global warming is concerned cows pose a greater threat to our survival than transport. And this according to the UN no less. Ruminant Animals Are Not Kyoto Villains. Dr Gerrit van der Lingen explains why emissions of methane from cattle and sheep should not be part of any emissions trading system in New Zealand: New Zealand's contribution to global anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas emissions (AGHGE) is only 0.1 percent. AGHGE are mainly from agriculture and fossil fuel use. One of the most abundant greenhouse gases comes from ruminant animals (cattle and sheep, with a minor contribution from goats and deer), which produce methane (CH4) through enteric fermentation. According to the MAF, 98.7% of agricultural methane comes from ruminant enteric fermentation. Most of that gas is released into the atmosphere by burping, accounting for almost half of all New Zealand's AGHGE. Cow 'emissions' are more damaging to the planet than CO2 from cars. Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow. A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs. Cow burps make for bad air Down Under. Belching and flatulence in cows and sheep annually produce 90 percent of Australia's methane emissions in the agricultural sector, a recent study shows. In an effort to monitor Australia's national greenhouse gas inventory, Australian researchers went about calculating methane emissions from belching bovines and other livestock. The world's top destroyer of the environment. A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs. The 400-page report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, entitled Livestock's Long Shadow, also surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. Killer cow emissions: It's a silent but deadly source of greenhouse gases that contributes more to global warming than the entire world transportation sector, yet politicians almost never discuss it, and environmental lobbyists and other green activist groups seem unaware of its existence. That may be because it's tough to take cow flatulence seriously. But livestock emissions are no joke. UN downgrades man's impact on the climate. Mankind has had less effect on global warming than previously supposed, a United Nations report on climate change will claim next year. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says there can be little doubt that humans are responsible for warming the planet, but the organisation has reduced its overall estimate of this effect by 25 percent. Wake up and Smell the Ammonia. A new report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization shows that the global livestock sector is responsible for a higher share of greenhouse gas emissions than transport. Livestock account for 9 percent of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane emissions, 64 percent of ammonia emissions, and 65 percent of global nitrous oxide. Livestock affect climate through the process of deforestation caused by expansion of pastures, off-gassing from manure, and "enteric fermentation by ruminants", a fancy name for methane cow burps. Farmers fear wind of change. Australia is likely to become the only country in the world other than New Zealand to impose an [emissions trading scheme] on agriculture. Government modelling in NZ shows farm profitability plummeting to zero. Under calculation methods imposed on Australia by the Kyoto Protocol, a fully grown cow is deemed to emit the equivalent of two tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. With 30 million cattle in Australia, that makes cows a major emitter. Eat Kangaroos, Save the Planet. Australian sheep and cattle producers should consider shifting to kangaroos to help reduce emissions of "greenhouse gases," a major report on climate change says. Unlike sheep and cows, kangaroos release a negligible amount of methane when they belch and emit wind. Methane is one of the group of gases blamed by many scientists for global warming. Smelling an activist rat. Heather Mills — celebrity divorcee and green extremist — last year urged us to stop drinking the milk of cows. Milking ex-husband Paul McCartney may have been fine, but Mills felt milking cows was going too far. You see, the burps of these gassy beasts were heating the world to hell, she told a press conference. "There are many other kinds of milk available. Why don't we try drinking rats' milk and dogs' milk?" And with that, she roared off in a Mercedes four-wheel drive, trailing clouds of hypocrisy. Global warming set to shake our eating habits. Climate change is likely to deprive us of the pleasures of eating beef and lamb, instead forcing us to contemplate platefuls of kangaroo meat and threatening another Australian table staple — seafood. A report to be released by the CSIRO today says changes in temperature, ocean currents, rainfall and extreme weather events could cost Australian fisheries tens of million of dollars. Nitrous Oxide: Nitrous oxide — or N2O — is known to be destructive of stratospheric ozone. In addition, in the words of Crutzen et al. (2007), it is "a 'greenhouse gas' with a 100-year average global warming potential 296 times larger than an equal mass of CO2." One of the main sources of N2O is agriculture, which in Finland accounts for almost half of that nations's N2O emissions (Pipatti, 1997). Moreover, with N2O originating from microbial N[itrogen] cycling in soil — mostly from aerobic nitrification or from anaerobic denitrification (Firestone and Davidson, 1989) — there is a concern that CO2-induced increases in carbon input to soil, together with increasing N[itrogen] input from other sources, will increase substrate availability for denitrifying bacteria and may result in higher N2O emissions from agricultural soils as the air's CO2 content continues to rise. Climate change experts target cow flatulence. Britain's finest scientific minds have turned their attention to a problem that they claim is threatening the future of the entire planet -- farm animal flatulence. Experts at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen say the average cow contributes as much to global warming as a family car that travels 12,000 miles. Bovine flatulence blows up the atmosphere faster than autos. Environmental alarmists and much of the media refuse to look at other industries and other reasons carbon dioxide is pumped into the air. … According to a United Nations report released in late November (and widely ignored by the media), bovine flatulence is responsible for 18 percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By contrast, it is estimated that the U.S. auto fleet accounts for 6 percent of global CO2 emissions. Our Carbon Hoofprint. In 2006, a 400-page report by the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization fingered livestock and the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the No. 1 contributor to so-called climate change. The FAO report, titled "Livestock's Long Shadow," also surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. But mostly it puts the blame on the world's 1.5 billion cattle. ... The FAO says livestock produce 35% to 40% of the methane put into the atmosphere. EPA 'Cow Tax' Could Charge $175 per Dairy Cow to Curb Greenhouse Gases. Call this one of the newest and innovative ways your government has come up with to battle greenhouse gas emissions. Indirectly it could be considered a cheeseburger tax, but one of the suggestions offered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act is to levy a tax on livestock. Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study. Experts said the slow digestive system of cows makes them a key producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide. In a bid to understand the impact of the wind produced by cows on global warming, scientists collected gas from their stomachs in plastic tanks attached to their backs. Ads target meat-eaters on greenhouse. Australians tucking into a juicy steak in front of the tele are being asked to consider how their meal impacts on climate change. Meat-eaters are the focus of a $400,000 television, print and billboard advertising campaign launched today linking methane emissions from cows to global warming. Reference material: A report called Livestock impacts on the environment was published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. No more beef if Britain hopes to cut carbon emissions. Roast beef and diary products may have to disappear from the British diet if the country is to meet its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 80%, a government report has warned. It found that the greenhouse gases generated by agriculture, and especially by Britain's 10.5m cows, will seriously undermine any attempt to meet the targets. Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu. Give up lamb roasts and save the planet. Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out "high carbon" food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment. Out will go kebabs, greenhouse tomatoes and alcohol. Instead, diners will be encouraged to consume more potatoes and seasonal vegetables, as well as pork and chicken, which generate fewer carbon emissions. 'Cow Tax' Uproar Underscores Greenhouse-Gas Divide. Is the Environmental Protection Agency preparing to slap a "cow tax" on bovines for their contribution to global warming? The agency says no. But in recent weeks, farmers and livestock ranchers have flooded the EPA with letters warning of catastrophic consequences if such a tax was imposed. New Zealand seeks to curb livestock's gas emissions. Over thousands of years of evolution, sheep, cattle and other cud chewers developed a nasty habit. They burp and break wind a lot. That gives New Zealand a distressing gas problem. The country's 4 million people share two islands in the South Pacific with 40 million sheep, 9 million beef and dairy cattle and more than a million farmed deer, all producing the methane that many climate scientists say is one of the worst culprits behind global warming. The Editor says... Sheep and cattle have been around for thousands of years, through warm weather and cold, and if they were in any way responsible for "global warming", then the warming would not be a recent development. If the Earth is warming, it must be due to a force more powerful than cows. Tax cows, hogs for passing gas, burping? For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if the federal government decides to charge fees for air-polluting animals. Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which they contend is a possible consequence of an Environmental Protection Agency report after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases amount to air pollution. No -- It's the termites! Before you go pointing fingers at the cows, keep in mind that Termites produce 11% of the naturally occurring methane in the atmosphere, and swamp gas accounts for almost all the rest. (Another report puts the figure at five percent.) Each termite produces only about half a microgram per day, but there are so many of them in the world that together they produce about 20 million tons per year.*. Global-warming theory and the eugenics precedent. Fifteen years ago it was estimated that the digestive tracts of termites produce about 50 billion tons of CO2 and methane annually. That was more than the world's production from burning fossil fuel. Additionally, cattle, horses and other ruminant animals are huge producers of both CO2 and methane, but, being unable to respond to our demands on this issue, their activity is ignored. When it comes to methane, another greenhouse gas, termites are responsible for 11 percent of the world's production from natural sources. Termites emit ten times more CO2 than humans. Not only is carbon dioxide's total greenhouse effect puny, mankind's contribution to it is minuscule. The overwhelming majority (97%) of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere comes from nature, not from man. Volcanoes, swamps, rice paddies, fallen leaves, and even insects and bacteria produce carbon dioxide, as well as methane. According to the journal Science (Nov. 5, 1982), termites alone emit ten times more carbon dioxide than all the factories and automobiles in the world. Natural wetlands emit more greenhouse gases than all human activities combined. (If greenhouse warming is such a problem, why are we trying to save all the wetlands?) Geothermal activity in Yellowstone National Park emits ten times the carbon dioxide of a midsized coal-burning power plant, and volcanoes emit hundreds of times more. No -- It's the moose! Burping moose bad for the environment. Amidst all the talk about carbon dioxide emissions and global warming comes news that Norway's national mascot may be contributing to the destruction of the environment, through burping and other bodily functions. Belching moose add to global warming. A grown moose belches out methane gas equivalent to 2,100 kilograms (4,630 pounds) of carbon dioxide a year, contributing to global warming, Norwegian researchers said Wednesday [8/22/2007]. That is more than twice the amount of CO2 emitted on a round-trip flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Oslo to the Chilean capital Santiago, according to Scandinavian Airlines. No -- It's all kinds of things! Aquatic life emits gases. Mussels, freshwater snails and other underwater creatures emit a potent greenhouse gas as they feed, according to a study that adds a small aquatic dimension to the impact of wildlife on global warming. The animals, also including worms and insect larvae, emitted nitrous oxide — commonly known as laughing gas — as a by-product of their digestion when nitrate was present in water. Back to the Environmental Issues Page Back to the Global Warming Index Page Back to the Home page 
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