Tangled up in CO2

-- Horatio Algeranon's interpretation
of Bob Dylan's "Tangled up in Blue"

Early one morning the sun was shining
I was laying in bed
Wond'ring if the temp had changed
If it was still in the red
The scientists said the future
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Kyoto
The emissions cut wasn't big enough
Humanity standing at the end of the road
Super-hurricanes in the news
Heading up for the Gulf Coast
Lord knows we’ve paid some dues getting through
Tangled up in CO2

The air was pristine way back when
Soon to be despoiled
Life was good for a while I guess
But we used a little too much oil
Burned it up as fast as we could
With coal and all the rest
Warmed the earth like it was our right
Thinking it was best.
The CO2 rose but we didn't see
‘Cuz we were lookin’ away
But scientists said over our shoulder
"The seas will rise someday and we’ll pay the due"
Tangled up in CO2.

Al Gore lit a burner under Inhofe because the time was ripe
"I thought he'd never see the truth" Al said
"He sounds like the Exxon type"
Then Al opened a book of equations
And handed it to me
Written by a Swedish chemist
From the nineteenth century
And every one of them numbers rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in CO2.

We lived our lives on Fossil-fuel Street
In denial, without a care
There was melting up in Greenland
And carbon dioxide in the air
Then the seas rose to flood the Maldives.
And the island inhabitants cried
They had to abandon their native home
To escape the rising tide
And when finally the bottom fell out
The island nation was gone
The only thing they knew how to do
Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in CO2.

We’re never ever going back again
Had to get to 350 somehow
All the fossil-fuels we used to know
They're an illusion to us now
Some were replaced by solar
Some by bio-fuels
Don't know how it all got started
But now we live by different rules
Humanity took a different road
Heading for a cleaner joint
We only had to change the game
Just see it from a different point of view
Not tangled in CO2

Listen to Bob Dylan singing Tangled Up in Blue (really about CO2)

Climate of Intrigue

-- by Horatio Algeranon

The American media love a "scandal",
Because the truth is hard to handle.

While ice sheets melt and oceans rise
They dwell on Senator Inhofe's cries

Of "Massive Worldwide Science Fraud",
"Proved" by emails from abroad;

Of global warming as a "Giant Hoax"
Perpetrated by jamokes,

To maximize their research grants,
And dress in posh Armani pants.

A tale of villainy and intrigue,
Of climate scientists all in league;

Of "Nature tricks" and doctored graphs,
And taped up broken hockey staffs;

Of plots to hide the climate data,
Behind the lab refrigerator;

Of schemes to "rig" the Peer Review
And melt advancing glaciers too;

Of wagons circled with guns pointed out
And Phil Jones on his horse (no doubt);

Of all of this and much much more,
But isn't that what the media's for?



For a bit (just slightly) more context than the mainstream media have provided on this "scandal" (at least here in the US), Horatio suggests you read what Real Climate says here, here, and here. You may also want to read Nature's editorial on the issue.

The video found here also puts the emails at the center of the controversy into context.

And Jeff Masters provides some broader context in The Manufactured Doubt industry and the hacked email controversy:

Even if every bit of mud slung at these scientists were true, the body of scientific work supporting the theory of human-caused climate change--which spans hundreds of thousands of scientific papers written by tens of thousands of scientists in dozens of different scientific disciplines--is too vast to be budged by the flaws in the works of the three or four scientists being subject to the fiercest attacks. -- Jeff Masters (The Manufactured Doubt industry and the hacked email controversy)