IT was predicted to be the largest demonstration yet against coal and climate change, 10,000 activists to descend on a coal-fired power plant in Washington DC.
According to the Capitol Climate Action website, they are there now, as I write, “courageous activists have occupied three of five gates at the Capitol Power Plant. The march of thousands is continuing to circle the plant. The situation is peaceful, non-violent, and of course inspiring…
“The atmosphere is charged with hope and excitement. People are bundled up in their warmest coats and staying active by chanting. I hear ‘Coal can never be clean.’ There’s a prayer vigil in the south section of the park.”
There may have been even more people including celebrities from New York at the rally, if it wasn’t for the unseasonal cold weather and large snowfalls delaying flights into Washington.
There have been large snowfall in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and New York.
According to Gary Conte, a National Weather Service meteorologist, the daily snowfall record for New York in March is 10 inches (25 centimeters), set in 1896 and “based on our forecast, that is in jeopardy” (via Bloomberg).
Cold weather associated with global warming protests is not unusual and has become known as the “Gore Effect” amongst climate change skeptics. Following are some examples (via Marc Morano):
1. First October snow since 1922 blankets London as global warming bill debated – October 2008
2. Global Warming Vote on Snowy Day in Washington – Senate committee debates expensive climate change bill snow blanket D.C. – December 2007
3. HOUSE HEARING ON ‘WARMING OF THE PLANET’ CANCELED AFTER SNOW/ICE STORM – February 2007
4. NOT AGAIN! DC ‘Snow Advisory’ Issued on Day of Congressional Global Warming Hearing – March 2007
5. Gore decries ‘global warming’ in bitterly cold NYC – December 2006
6. Gore delivers environmental message at Harvard – …with near 125-year record breaking low temps – October 2008
7. Global warming activists urged to focus on Earth Day rallies and ignore snow as it ‘piles up outside our windows’ – April 17, 2007
8. No Joke! Cyclists ‘braved freezing cold temps’ to promote global warming awareness in New York – October 22, 2008
9. Global warming protest in Maryland frosted with snow – January 2008
10. Global warming rally in the snow – April 2007
11. Snow won’t dampen global-warming rallies – April 2007
12. Brrr. – Obama to global warming demonstrators: ‘This is probably not the weather to hold up those signs…it’s a little chilly today’ – October 28, 2008
13. Global Warming Awareness Walk Braves Snow Storm – March 2007
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The photograph of hundreds thousands of students protesting global warming in Washington is from Capital Climate Action . The photograph of hundreds of snowmen protesting global warming is from LookU.com.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
from Myron Ebell in Washington:
“I was out there at our counter-protest today and it was cold. There were 6 or 7 hundred anti-coal protesters and about thirty of us. We spent a couple hundred bucks, they spent a few hundred thousand, and we got a significant fraction of the media.
“I’d like to do a cost benefit comparison of them and us using carbon dioxide emissions as the unit of value.
“A highlight was the Greenpeace truck and trailer with a big solar panel on top. It was covered with snow, so they had to use their generator for the sound system.”
from http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/03/02/morano-mocks-deadly-storm/
“Last night, Sen. Jim Inhofe’s office responded to forecasts of a dangerous storm with mockery.
“A winter storm sweeping up the East Coast with rain, snow, and ice has caused 350 car crashes in New Jersey, a 15-mile-long traffic jam in North Carolina, and four deaths from car accidents in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Long Island. Hundreds of thousands of households lost power from Georgia to Maine.
“Marc Morano, Sen. Inhofe’s environmental communications director, mocked the threat of the storm by pointing out it would take place at the same time as a protest of fossil-fueled global warming in Washington D.C.”
Hi Jen,
Fox News reported: “Global warming activists stormed Washington Monday for what was billed as the nation’s largest act of civil disobedience to fight climate change — only to see the nation’s capital virtually shut down by a major winter storm.” … in March.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/02/shiver-global-warming-protest-frozen-massive-snowfall/
“The photograph of thousands of students protesting global warming is from Capital Climate Action”
Thousands you say, verrry interesting…..
http://cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=44320
“about 500 protesters braved temperatures in the mid 20’s (F)……..”
he he 🙂 🙂
Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor.
It’s a pity the AGW zealots are without both a sense of humour and a sense of irony [still they compensate with gargantuan egoes and narcissism]; it reminds me of that walking reincarnation of Laurel and Hardy, Flannery, who has been to every capital city, pronounced the imminent dustbowling of the place and when just departed been replaced by torrents; people out west are queuing to have Flannels visit them and go into prophecy mode; in fact, we could predict the weather just by assuming the opposite of what the AGW crowd are expecting.
I saw on Greenpeace’s site that they urged people to come , stating ” snowstorm or not”! On these northern latitudes in springtime one minute it’s snowstorm the other minute the sun is shining and you can have a beer outside on a cafe.
It’s amazing what crap these sceptic blogs write. My morning paper stated about blogs that they were an abysal world.
Actually, balmy Washington is hardly considered part of the “northern latitudes” by North Americans.
In fact, Washington was long considered the northern part of America’s deep south and if you ever have been in Washington in the summer you’d understand the true meaning of 95f heat combined with 90% humidity. Every building and home from the humblest to the most well endowed is fully air conditioned. At night in the burbs the gentle hum of the ubiquitous central AC unit is almost as loud and more persistent than their famous cicadas.
I suppose that’s why Jim Hansen once staged managed the abysmal trick of having the air conditioning turned off during a congressional hearing on AGW. It’s easy to imagine the insidious advance of AGW in Washington in the summertime.
Ah, delicious karma. A snowstorm in Washington just when the cherry trees should begin to bud. Normal temperature in Washington this time of year should be a gorgeous 60f plus (about 15c.)
Using the same abysmal quality of reasoning the AGW alarmists employ, one could be forgiven for fretting that if this cooling trend continues we shall have crop failures this year…
http://dc.about.com/od/hoildaysseasonalevents/a/FAQsCherryTrees.htm
Anne Novek,
Please note we sceptic bloggers do not use the language you use when criticing or making judgements about global warming opinions. Perhaps some extremists might use colourful terminology, but hatred of opposing views seems to be monopolised by socialists.
Perhaps you might thiong about getting some manners and learning some of the codes used by diplomats when wishing to make a strong point?
Louis
You say in your plea for rational and civilised debate:
“.. hatred of opposing views seems to be monopolised by socialists.”
I don’t hate opposing views Louis. I disagree with them. I am about winning the battle for democracy.
You seem to be adopting stereotyping and using generalisations in relation to socialists that you deplore when the same approach is used by the denialists.
“I suppose that’s why Jim Hansen once staged managed the abysmal trick of having the air conditioning turned off during a congressional hearing on AGW.”
Wes, Jim’s been trying to “cool” that day ever since. It’s still probably hotter than today.
BTW, do you grow cherries where you are? I’ve got one tree and you need two to fertilise the blossoms to form fruit and every spring I try to find a tree that’s flowering so I can cross-polinate mine, however they flower at very variable times and I have so far been unsuccessful.
So dear Louis is now running a diplomat school together with Bird???:))))
When I look at Wes’ post and Morano’s comment you have to shake your head. Since thousands of years there are backlashes with spring every March, April and May. All animals and farmers know this.
There is a Swedish fairy tell for children , over 100 years old , that states ” Sleep little trees , it’s still winter” ( when the trees have buds).
A picture says it all : ( here’s the 100 years old pic):
http://annimal.bloggsida.se/diverse/sleep-little-tree-its-still-winter
So Ann has had an epiphany that local weather is not climate? Good on her.
Does this mean that unlike last northern summer she will now refrain from claiming local heatwaves are an obvious sign of global warming?
We don’t believe a year of snow storms or a heat waves is indicative of climate trends either. We’re just having a good laugh at the people who with hypocritical selectivity do and now find Murphy’s Law has their protest placards wilting under the weight of ice.
If only we could convince Ann’s ilk to extend the same flawless rational analysis they exhibit during unusual cold spells into the summer….
…since we farmers and animals know that since thousands of years there are backlashes with every June, July and August too.
😉
There’s an old Aussie bush colloquialism, about a 100 years old, that goes something like this “Bloody hell mate the big dry has broke, get me Elders on the horn it’s time to RESTOCK!”
Spangles,
I have two cherry tree both under three years old but they are already producing fruit and growing fast. They’re just nursery varieties that are self pollinating crossbreeds. The fruit is so good that I plan to put more in. My problem is that they suffer from sawfly larvae infestations because the recent summers have been too cool (ahem) to knock the larvae back.
They flower very early even while heavy frosts are occurring and the fruit is finished before the vernal equinox.
Wes, that’s what I need. In Qld though, no one carries cherry trees so I’ll have to get them sent from the south.
I’m sure it’s cold enough here to set fruit [it’s just barely warm enough for cane toads] because the cherries actually form but do not grow.
Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I really enjoyed this year’s capitol climate action. It couldn’t have turned out better.
Did you click over to their forum?
I enjoyed the heck out of reminding the protestors to wear their mittens, “because its gonna be cold outside”.
Here’s the picture of “thousands”. http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/70ae8d8d62350439d0c3d16096fe8b17/Demonstrators_call_for_Capitol_Hill_to_use_clean_energy_in_Washington/
They use a tight shot to give the illusion of claustrophobia.
And here’s the same crowd from a better vantage point.
http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/6ee8bbc9d4ab9c713b1420bdb8cf2cf5/Demonstrators_call_for_Capitol_Hill_to_use_clean_energy_in_Washington/
Back down to hundreds.
Just imagine the further irony if the protesters succeeded in shutting down the Capitol Power Plant and isolated it from the grid.
Freezing in the dark for a few weeks, food rotting in freezers, no fuel from the bowsers, no street lights, traffic lights, essential services using diesel trucked in, oh joyfullness !
John Passant,
Well at least you hint you are an unhateful socialist but using the term “denialists” sort of deflates your point, doesn’t it.
Anne Novek,
What are you on about?
I wonder where the green plastic faux hard hats came from. I know where the plastic came from – crude oil.
R. Abadger you ought to know by now that greeenie agitators are in love with sequestered carbon, their green faux plastic hard hats merely represent their acknowledgement of the carbon cycle.