Temperatures dropped, actually

I receive a large quantity and variety of email here at the Sentinel. There's a lot of junk, some interesting ideas for news articles and even some thought-provoking opinion pieces. As was the case recently when the Heartland Institute offered some information about "global warming," an issue that is on the back burner, so to speak, since the credit crisis has gripped the world.

The think tank notes that global carbon dioxide emissions are outpacing the worse-case projections of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to figures released by the Global Carbon Project. Worldwide emissions rose 2.9 percent last year. Total emissions remain above 2001 levels.

Here's something interesting: Emissions in the United States have been flat since 2000, and actually lower after factoring in "carbon sinks" and greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide. China, India and Indonesia are different stories.

Even more noteworthy: The U.N. was pretty self-assured in 2001 when it predicted world temperature rises related to higher CO2 emissions. Well ... they were wrong. Global temperatures actually fell 0.4 degrees from 2001 to 2007. Many climate scientists have been suggesting that the U.N.'s models for climate change overestimate global warming. Maybe people should start listening to them.