New data proves that global warming causes increased ice cover

When the data doesn't fit your hypothesis, it's time to pick new data.

Finally, I've seen an environmentalist admit that Antarctic ice cover has been increasing steadily for years. When Al Gore needed some dramatic footage for his Nobel-prize winning movie, he showed huge chunks of ice breaking off from the Ross shelf in Antarctica, falsely giving the impression that this bit of Antarctica represented the continent as a whole. But data has instead shown that ice is steadily spreading, and this change is much more likely to be affected by the natural cycles of ocean currents than CO₂.

But instead of continuing to ignore this data, environmentalists are trying a new spin: Antarctic ice spread is caused by global warming! You see, warmer ocean temperatures cause more snow which means more ice! Logically it follows that the entire Southern Hemisphere will be covered in ice if the Earth just gets warm enough.

And just in case you don't buy this twisted bit of rationalization, the argument continues in circular fashion: Even though ice is spreading, the actual mass is not increasing. In other words, since Antarctic glaciers are in retreat (like every interglacial period in the history of the Earth), the new ice shouldn't count! And even though last winter was one of the most frigid Arctic winters on record, ice cover didn't increase so it doesn't count! The AGW boogeyman is so ubiquitous that even contradictory evidence proves its existence. When air temperatures go up, AGW is blamed. When air temperatures go down, but ice cover decreases? AGW. When ice cover increases, but glaciers retreat? You get the picture.

When an Australian student films polar bears playing safely on melting ice in August, just a few feet from the shore (polar bears are fantastic swimmers), environmental groups sensationalize and misrepresent the video to support their cause. Never mind that NASA determined Arctic ice melt is likely caused by changing wind patterns interacting with the Transpolar Drift Stream. Never mind that polar bears have already survived extensive periods of deglaciation, none of which were caused by humans.

You can choose to believe that AGW makes it colder sometimes, in some places, while it causes warmer temperatures sometimes, in other places. You can swallow the illogic that AGW is to blame for ice spread in some spots while it melts ice in others. You can pick almost any 10, 20, or 30-year period in history and extrapolate short term climactic trends into doomsday scenarios, especially when you ignore the data that doesn't fit your conclusion. Or you can accept that the climate constantly changes, in cyclical and localized ways that are not well understood nor easily predicted.