Die Klimazwiebel: Buckets of questions

2) The increase has not been monotonous monotonic though. If we would set up a poll among our readers to define different phases in the history of SST, I am pretty sure that all would come up with the same ,o r with a very similar answer: cooling up to 1910, warming up to 1945, cooling up to 1975, warming up to now (here some would argue that the last 10 years SST has been stable, but we want to focus here on the 20th century development). This is a second question that also needs an explanation. There are some around, involving a combination of external climate forcings and internal quasi-oscillations. But what it is really striking - I think- is the fact that these warming and cooling phases are so sharply defined. [How, specifically, can human CO2 emissions be the primary driver here?]

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Rep. Johnson gets National Parks award

The amount may be small, but U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall says the message is big, from two amendments Woodall introduced to the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.

The amendments cut about $5.1 million from the bill, most of which was through the elimination of a climate change study.

“This amendment isn’t about whether you believe that the earth’s climate is warming, cooling or not changing at all; it’s about ensuring the efficient allocation of taxpayer resources,” Woodall said. “The Army Corps of Engineers is a construction agency — not a scientific research agency. Its mission does not include climate change.”

Under a new policy implemented by House Republicans, all money saved from programs cut in appropriations bills can be deposited in a Spending Reduction Account, so that money cut from programs will not be spent on any other projects.

“In the context of the multi-trillion-dollar debt that our nation owes, $5.1 million is a drop in the bucket,” Woodall said. “However, one small amendment at the time, my colleagues and I are changing the culture of excessive spending of the past, and working to get our financial house back in order.”