Here’s one you won’t hear from Al Gore — VOICES for REASON

For years, scientists critical of the claims of catastrophic, man-made climate change have pointed out that even if the earth were warming–whether from human causes or not–there would be many positive benefits. For instance, warmer climate conditions combined with higher atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide–a.k.a. plant food–would dramatically promote plant growth. (See here for evidence this has already occurred, due to today’s CO2 levels and the slight temperature increase since the ’80s.)

The response from climate change alarmists has been either to completely ignore or dismiss such evidence–or, more recently, to trot out all manner of studies asserting that higher CO2 levels would primarily benefit harmful, pollen-spewing villains such as ragweed. And the media, of course, dutifully chimes in with gloomy headlines such as “Allergies Getting Worse Due to Global Warming” or “Climate Change: Something to Sneeze At.”

Well, here are some other “inconvenient truths” you won’t hear from Al Gore.

Scientists attempting to explain why flu is so seasonal have found evidence suggesting that the flu virus spreads faster in colder, drier conditions. An author of the study, Dr. Peter Palese of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, was interviewed on NPR last Friday:

“What we found specifically was that cold temperatures, around 40 degrees, and low humidity–exactly the conditions in temperate zones in winter–are much more favorable for transmission of flu,” Palese says. “At 75 to 80 degrees, we don’t see any transmission.”

That’s partly because of how temperature and humidity affect flu viruses, and partly because of how the environment affects the respiratory tracts of humans and other mammals.

Palese says flu viruses are more stable in colder, drier conditions.

Equally important, the droplets of fluid that people (and guinea pigs) spray with each sneeze and cough are much smaller at lower temperatures and humidity levels. So these droplets carry much farther and stay suspended in the air longer.

The droplets also penetrate deeper into the respiratory passages and lungs when breathed in, Palese says.

“At higher humidity, the droplets become much bigger and sink to the floor,” he adds.

Colder, drier air also affects mammals’ respiratory tracts in a way that gives flu viruses a boost.

So a warmer and more humid climate could be a huge benefit to flu sufferers. It’s too bad that global average temperatures have plateaued and currently appear to be declining.