Reply #18: So 2006 was the warmest year on record....

[Firespirit]

The previous record was 1998, because of the famous 1997-98 El Nino. (Query; I thought Gore's movie said that 2005 was the warmest. What gives?) I use Google News and found this article in, of all things, the http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0701100137jan10,1,6054537.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed">Chicago Tribune that said this:

In 1998, record high temperatures were driven by an unusually powerful El Nino current that disrupted weather patterns worldwide. The current El Nino, a periodic warming current that took shape last summer, is far weaker and has had only a moderate effect on global climate, several experts said.

"What we are seeing is much more than El Nino," said climate analyst Kevin Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "The overall pattern is consistent with our concepts of global warming."

It ALL comes down to energy. Everything. Dr Funkenstein, you are dead on. Fix the energy problem, and you've made major headway in resolving the global warming crisis, the Middle East entanglements, and middle class financial issues.