Sunday, February 14, 2010

Messages of the Snow, part 2

One more snowbound Washington photo--a great one that accompanies an LA Times story. It appears to be the Supreme Court building, lost in the clouds, which perhaps is where they found their decision on corporations as individual citizens. The story under this photo is another on the relationship of the snowstorms to the Climate Crisis debate. In a terse Q & A format, it also debunks the Deniers, emphasizing the scientists saying that snow is in some ways a symptom of relative warmth--those of us who grew up knowing that it often was 'too cold to snow' also know this kind of clinging snow is evidence of warmer temps. In fact, the average temp in DC in January was about a degree warmer than normal for the past 40 years.
This part did surprise me: Q. How will the snow affect the politics of the climate bill? A. Probably not much, because proponents are pitching the bill as a boost to national security and a creator of clean-energy jobs, as opposed to a curb on global warming. The swing voters who will dictate the bill's fate are senators who more or less say they accept the science behind climate change.
Update: stats showing more snow in warmer winters.

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