How about a soda with that straw you're grasping?

Tree deaths, spurred by global warming, have more than doubled in older forests across Western states, federal scientists reported Thursday.

Droughts and pests brought on by warmer temperatures have killed firs, hemlocks, pines and other large trees in particular over the past 30 years without allowing replacements to sprout, the study published in the journal Science finds.

"Very likely the mortality rate will continue to rise," says lead author Phillip van Mantgem of the U.S. Geologic Survey.

In 2007, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found it "very likely" that average temperatures have increased more than 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century and probably will rise 3 to 7 degrees in this one. In the American West, temperature increases have led to longer summers, drought and the survival of tree-killing beetles at higher elevations. These beetles are widespread in outbreaks reaching to Alaska.

OK...let's assume that "global warming" is actually occurring. Exercises in creativity are always a nice little break from reality...so come along, won't you?

Fine...ready? We jump in our hypothetical Hummer and drive way north... Hey...will you look at that! Why...there are more surviving trees up here then ever before. Gosh darn...that "global warming" is fantastic. These northern forests are thriving...

Incidentally...the beetles they refer to are the Pine Bark Beetle populations. The last outbreak was back in the 1950's. Obviously...the retro-active carbon release program was in effect to cause such a drought. I'm just wondering who has the time machine.

Were you to ask the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service why these beetles are going a little nuts right now, they'd tell you that agressive environmental groups continuously sue to disallow selective removal, brush disposal and prescribed fire thinning. They'd also tell you that the failure to do such upkeep is one of the primary causes of large forest fires.

Though some people blame inadequate thinning of older trees by state forest managers, the study makes a "convincing case" that drought and pests are responsible, says entomologist Kenneth Raffa of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

USA Today mentions the USDA Forest Service's position as "some people"...and then discounts it with a bug guy in Wisconsin. What they fail to mention is that the USDA Forest Service files hundreds of proposals each year with the GAO to thin growth and scrub. Over half are appealed. Over half of the appeals originate from Environmental groups. These are the same groups that push the "global warming" theory at every turn. In addition to the stalling (which allows the bark beetle a more fertile breeding ground such that outbreaks can occur) the taxpayers end up with a quarter Billion dollars in litigation invoices.

And here's your nightcap:

"Climate change is not just affecting the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean — it's closer to home," says climate scientist Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, who was not part of the study. "Climate changes in mountain regions of the world are occurring at a much faster pace than has generally been recognized."

Raymond S. Bradley...Raymond S. Bradley....who's dat?

Raymond S. Bradley, director of the Center for Climate Change, is one of many researchers affiliated with UMass Amherst who contributed to reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the past year. The reports earned the panel the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with environmentalist Al Gore.

Bradley and Michael E. Mann presented a study back in 1999 on "global warming" that was thoroughly repudiated HERE. One of Al Gore's cheerleaders gets a shout-out from USA Today to push the agenda even though he has no connection to the basis of the article. That's how it works...enjoy the soda.