Environmental Group Sues to Stop Solar Plant. What?

You read the headline right. A conservation group has sued the federal government because they approved construction of a solar plant in the desert. Would these people be happy if mankind completely gave up technology and returned to the paleolithic age?

(Reuters) - A U.S. conservation group has sued the federal government over its approval of a major solar power plant in the California desert, the latest in a string of challenges to the nation's renewable energy goals from the environmental community.

According to court papers, the non-profit Western Watersheds Project alleged U.S. regulators approved Brightsource Energy's 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar energy plant without conducting adequate environmental reviews, and asked the court to order the defendants to withdraw their approvals.

If Global Warming is caused by CO2, why has the whole solar system been warming up?

The anthropogenic global warming crowd want us to believe the Earth is heating up because of man-made CO2 emissions. Skeptics claim solar activity is the main reason for the recent warming trend and nothing unusual is really happening. If solar activity is really the major cause, shouldn't this have affected the rest of the solar system? The evidence suggests it has.

Mars: Here is a video animation of the Martian Polar ice cap taken by the Hubble telescope in October of 1996, January of 1997 and March of 1997. Remember the peak temperature Earth achieved in 1998. Hat tip to The Strata-Sphere.



Jupiter: The latest images could provide evidence that Jupiter is in the midst of a global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit on different parts of the globe. (2006) Excerpted from here.

Pluto: Pluto is undergoing global warming, as evidenced by a three-fold increase in the planet's atmospheric pressure during the past 14 years, a team of astronomers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Williams College, the University of Hawaii, Lowell Observatory and Cornell University announced in a press conference today at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Division for Planetary Sciences in Birmingham, AL. (2002) Excerpted from here.

Triton: We're not the only ones experiencing global warming. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher has reported that observations obtained by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based instruments reveal that Neptune's largest moon, Triton, seems to have heated up significantly since the Voyager space probe visited it in 1989. The warming trend is causing part of Triton's surface of frozen nitrogen to turn into gas, thus making its thin atmosphere denser. (1998) Excerpted from here.

NASA admits solar cycles affect global warming

Anthropogenic cooling advocates have long scoffed at the idea of solar activity being a factor in global warming. Now, a new study from NASA has confirmed the theory of solar cycles affecting global temperatures. NASA still clings the the unproven theory that greenhouse gases have been the dominant influence on recent climate change.
From DailyTech:

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.

The report can be read here. ScienceDaily has an article here.

Past studies have shown that sunspot numbers correspond to warming or cooling trends. The twentieth century has featured heightened activity, indicating a warming trend. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)