Armed with statistics from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climate Data Center, D’Aleo reported in the 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac that the U.S. annual mean temperature has fluctuated for decades and has only risen 0.21 degrees since 1930 — which he says is caused by fluctuating solar activity levels and ocean temperatures, not carbon emissions.
Data from the same source shows that during five of the past seven decades, including this one, average U.S. temperatures have gone down. And the almanac predicted that the next year will see a period of cooling.
HT to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, who notes:
The global-warming movement exists to provide cover for statists who demand central control over energy production. That’s an inconvenient truth that has begun to emerge as global temperatures fail to meet expectations of increase. Rather than admit that more research is needed, global-warming activists have increased the hysterical tone of their efforts, demanding immediate action and giving dire predictions of catastrophe without it.
Over 31,000 scientists have now signed onto the Global Warming Petition Project, demanding more skepticism and a return to scientific inquiry into climate change rather than political propaganda. They face an uphill battle in convincing the beneficiaries of research dollars from Washington to risk their funding by acting like scientists.
Update: More on Global Cooling over at Gateway Pundit.