Great Lakes Rising: An Under-reported Rebuke of Climate Change

Last year, a report from a U.S./Canada International Joint Commission warned that we should expect dire consequences for the Great Lakes in the coming years. It detailed a five-year study on the shrinking water levels in Lakes Huron and Michigan and relayed in ominous tones the hazards these mighty ponds might experience in the next decade. Those same scientists may be left scratching their heads following more recent news that the Great Lakes are experiencing rising water levels in a dramatic way.

Unfortunately for global warming nuts, there has been a rebound in recent months, putting three of the Great Lakes at considerably higher water levels than they were a year ago. Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior are at least a foot higher than they were in summer 2013, and Ontario and Erie are also experiencing rising levels. Scientists believe that the colder-than-usual winter and increasing Midwest rains are at least partially to thank for the rebound, but that doesn’t fully address the predictive failings of the International Joint Commission report.

Science and Pseudoscience
Conservatives have been taken to task for being the party against science. While there are some unfortunate truths behind that accusation – politicians on the right are often embarrassingly illiterate when it comes to scientific topics – it should never be used to describe the GOP’s approach to climate change. Climate science has been at the mercy of the liberal agenda for a long time, and the mainstream media’s distortion of the facts makes finding the truth nearly impossible. Distortions of the truth are exactly what science is not, and if this is the road climate science has taken, then it can be safely dismissed as pseudoscience.

The Great Hoax
The following three facts prove particularly troubling for anyone seriously backing the hoax of man-made global warming:

• The warming trend hasn’t been in evidence since 1997. From that point on, the world’s warming cycle has essentially been on a hiatus. It’s hard to make global warming sound like this damning threat to human survival when it…er…isn’t actually happening.
• Consensus is dangerous. It’s important to remember that all of this talk in the media about “a scientific consensus” is a bunch of baloney. Science is a discipline whose predictions and theories change and grow with every passing month. This doesn’t invalidate science, but it also means that its usefulness as a crystal ball is very limited.
• Arctic ice – one of the major warning signs of global warming trotted out at every opportunity – is on a two-year increase. How many news reports have you seen on this? It’s not at all clear whether the amount of arctic ice we have is as important as the left suggests, but they should at least be interested in this reversal, no?

Critical Thinking is a Moral Imperative
Science is often used in dubious ways to further an anti-corporate, anti-American, anti-progress agenda. We must be ever vigilant in separating truth from fiction, and we must have our guard up against politics masquerading as science. At the same time, we must do a better job of getting our top politicians informed about the relevant scientific and technological topics of the day. We cannot let conservatism become the party of scientific illiteracy, nor can we stand in the way of technological advancement. We can, however, treat every scientific “consensus” with the skepticism and critical thinking that science encourages. That is our imperative.