It was about 13º Fahrenheit in Atlanta this morning at 8:00am, making it one of the coldest days in recent history.  The cold snap has lasted over a week already seems unlikely to stop until Tuesday or Wednesday.

While many conservative pundits have commented that this weather is “proof” that the Global Warming™ alarmists’ claims are false, the vast majority do it tongue-in-cheek.  As the “Warmers” are so keen to remind us, local weather patterns are not indicators of Climate Change™–or lack thereof.

This mocking behavior, of course, counters the statements made by Global Warming™ alarmists after disasters like the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina that Global Warming™ was a contributing factor to the scale of these and future events.  Give it time, and someone will claim that Climate Change™ is, in fact, the cause of this cold weather.

The reality, of course, is that the Earth’s temperature has in general been gradually rising for the last 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age.  The planet’s temperature has fluctuated drastically throughout its 4.5 billion year history, most of that without the influence of human beings.  In fact, the earth has both baked to nearly complete dessication and frozen over entirely at least once each.

It is somewhat notable that conservatives, who are generally conflated with bible-literalists (those who believe the Earth is just 6,000 years old, called Creationists™) by the Left are the people who are taking the long-term view of Earth’s climate; while liberals, who are always associated with the Scientific Community™ in the media, take the short-term, human-scale view.  That short-term view being that 150 years of climate trend indicate human beings are the evil behind Global Warming™, not natural processes; and that even though the planet was warmer 2,000 years ago than it is today, any more warming today poses dire consequences for the whole planet.

Earth’s climate has changed drastically during its existence.  Just 12,000 years ago, the polar ice caps extended as far south as New York City in the north and as far north as Sydney, Australia in the south.  During the Roman Climate Optimum, roughly 200 BCE to 400 CE, the planet’s temperature was warmer than today followed by the somewhat colder Dark Ages, and moderate fluctuations have persisted through all of recorded history.

So while this cold snap is by no means “proof” that Global Warming™ or Climate Change™ is not happening, neither are the localized and temporary events indicated by the alarmists proof that it is.  The real issue of climate is that we as human beings really don’t have enough information to make any conclusions about the future of climate.  Even though the climate has been cooling for the past eight years and the Climate Research Unit’s IPCC data has been called into serious doubt, liberals want us to send billions of dollars to Poor Nations™ to help them “deal” with famine, rising sea levels and other effects of Global Warming™.  That the billions of dollars in aid already spent on Poor Nations™ has done nothing to help them develop is not an issue.  We’re talking about evil Imperialist Western Nations™ paying their Fair Share™ here!

Whether claiming an imminent ice age in the 1970s or planetary dessication in the 1990s, and numerous iterations in the decades before, climate science has always been tainted by individual and group agendas.  The difference now is that world governments appear keen to try to Do Something™ about it.  Until and unless double-blind scientific study can be done, no one can claim to have any idea in what shape is our planet’s climate.  To simply Do Something™ that could have drastic effects on the world’s economy and eliminate many individual freedoms without real, unbiased proof is anathema to reason.  Before spending hundreds of billions of dollars to help Poor Nations™ and forcing businesses to add billions of dollars in costs to be Green™, perhaps it is time to ask our scientists what really is going on with our climate.

Author’s Note: I have used the trademark sign (“™”) to indicate traditional liberal or alarmist talking points, ideas or terminology.