As I'm sure you're all aware, everything bad that happens to the planet is your fault. That last hurricane which rendered people homeless: because you use plastic bags. Contrary to educated opinion, California wildfires are not to blame on California's inability to manage a bowel movement, much less a forest, but actually your SUV. As we all know, rising temperatures are not due to silly things like "summer" or "the sun" but cow farts. Ask Alexandria, she'll tweet you all about it. The lower than normal lake levels of the Great Lakes in 2013? Man-made climate change. Except plot twist, the Great Lake levels are now at record highs. But shhhhhh!

We have to break this down bit by bit, so I beg your indulgence. First, we have this little number from National Geographic August 2013. Emphasis added:

Experts have been quoted blaming the weather for low lake levels in everything from this blog to the New York Times and in NBC News reports, but as described in detail in a previous post about how climate change and variability drive water levels on the Great Lakes, just blaming the weather is not the full story.

That link to the climate change article is broken. As in there is no article there. Curiosity piqued.

What is rarely mentioned is that these weather events, including more frequent droughts, warmer air temperatures, and even extreme weather events such as the flooding in the western portion of the Great Lakes basin this spring, are part of longer-term climate trends. There is no question that lake temperatures are warming and winter ice cover is decreasing. Both are consistent with global trends and are related to climatic factors that affect water levels in the Great Lakes. Given the well-documented trends in the region, it would be difficult to show that human-induced climate change is not having an effect on lake levels. There’s no denying that we humans share some of the blame.

You got that? HUMANS SHARE SOME OF THE BLAME. Remember, this article is from 2013. So what can we do about it?

Short of slowing or reversing global climate trends – something that would require a major societal shift away from fossil fuel dependence, which few people seem to be talking about – an adaptive approach to management of water levels is being promoted.

If only you'd picked the Prius, with the nonrecyclable battery, instead of your gas-guzzling SUV. You happy now?

For giggles, here's a funny USA Today article panicking about the record low lake levels. I should say it's "funny" because it's on accident. Like when a toddler takes a soccer ball to the face.

I want you to note the STORY HIGHLIGHTS at left there. Third point says "It would take 'years of consistent rain' to return lake Michigan and Lake Huron to normal." Uh huh.

2013 was a short 6 years ago. So let's check in and see how the lakes are doing in 2019, shall we?

From the Chicago Tribune:

This month, Lake Superior measured about 9 inches above its long-term average but almost 5 inches below its levels from last July. Lakes Michigan and Huron were recorded at nearly 2 feet above their historic average and a half inch higher than a year ago. Still, the Lake Superior board expects to increase the flow to 2,800 cubic meters per second this month — more than enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool each second — and above the amount called for in the most recent regulatory plan for balancing the lakes.

Basically SO MUCH WATER WE CAN'T HANDLE IT.

I do apologize for the all caps. But come on. 2013 the low lake levels were blamed, in part, on man-made climate change. Six years later, with record high lake levels, the same idiots are blaming all the water on...

But scientists are divided over how climate change will affect the Great Lakes over the long term.

Now look it, I'm a lot of things. I'm also not a lot of things. I'm more not things than I am things. What I am not is a climatologist or a general scientist. But I do consider myself a decent reader of words. Due to this keen ability to read that which is right before me, I'm able to compare, contrast, think about, form an opinion, and articulate. So allow me to drop some of those opinions on your ability to do the same.

If the supposed man-made climate change was responsible for the lower levels of the Great Lakes a few years ago, then is it man-made climate change which is responsible for the higher than normal lake levels now? Despite our ever consistent use of those nasty fossil fuels the National Geographic from 2013 was crying about?

The environmentalists will likely say no. The trend for climate change alarmists is to only highlight what they determine is terrible, never to call attention to that which the rest of us deems good. Low lake levels in the great white north was "BAD. CLIMATE CHANGE. OUR FAULT. HUMANS ARE THE WORST." But higher than normal lake levels... "SHHH, we didn't say anything!"

The general attitude and lack of accountability on the Man Made Climate Change is Real and Anyone Who Denies it is a Heretic Who Should be Imprisoned side is their unwillingness to concede when they made a mistake, when their predictions were wrong, and that maybe the Earth's climate is more complicated than a paint by numbers and can't just be blamed on people. The latter of which is proved every time they make a prediction and that prediction blows up in their face. How many times have climate alarmists predicted the end is near when "the end" whooshes by like a deadline?

Can we just admit climate changes all the time, and it's not the end of the world when it does?

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