Nuanced links and whatnot

Youth culture killed my dog
And I don't think it's fair (I don't think it's fair)
And his suicide can be justified
By the tastemakers, how they cried and cried and so

-- They Might Be Giants

Actually, I don't think youth culture killed anyone's dog. It should be clear now that global warming (apparently the term is back) did it:

If you think of climate change as a hazard for some far-off polar bears years from now, you're mistaken. That's the message from top climate scientists gathering in Japan this week to assess the impact of global warming.

In fact, they will say, the dangers of a warming Earth are immediate and very human.

"The polar bear is us," says Patricia Romero Lankao of the federally financed National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., referring to the first species to be listed as threatened by global warming due to melting sea ice.

When someone's work is federally funded, they are automatically telling the truth, as anyone who has studied the career of Richard Nixon knows. And impressive work it is:

Global food prices will rise between 3 and 84 percent by 2050 because of warmer temperatures and changes in rain patterns. Hotspots of hunger may emerge in cities.

Heck, I'd take a 3 percent rise if it were available. I'd even take 84 percent, considering that the rate of inflation over time is significantly higher than that. 2050 is 36 years away. If we go back 36 years, we would be looking at 1978. Check out the rate of inflation since then:

Only 84% by 2050? Bring on the warming!

Or maybe they mean inflation would be 84% than it would be otherwise? Who knows? You see, it's a nuanced link. Kinda like this one:

VIOLENCE: For the first time, the panel is emphasizing the nuanced link between conflict and warming temperatures. Participating scientists say warming won't cause wars, but it will add a destabilizing factor that will make existing threats worse.

Nuanced, in this instance, means, "something we'd like to assert for a headline, but can't really prove."

The main reason this global warming/climate change train never leaves the station is that it relies on assertions that can't really be proven and on models that predict things that don't come to pass. I don't think anyone disputes that climate changes over time; it should be evident since we are pretty certain that Minnesota was covered by a glacier not that long ago. The climate changes for a lot of reasons, most of which are beyond the control of human beings.