Thursday, July 21, 2005

Global Warming...Why I'm not Concerned

CNN.com has an article up titled "Scientists: Humans cause global warming." My big issue with the whole crying and gnashing of teeth dealing with global warming is that these same scientists say the Earth is millions of years old...and throughout that whole time the climate has changed many times in various ways and for various reasons. Noting a 35-year raise in temperature and screaming that we're all going to die horrible deaths a la "The Day After Tommorrow" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Let us not forget that in 1975, climatologists were screaming and crying about *GLOBAL COOLING*

I watched a fascinating documentry on the Discovery Channel dealing with how a massive and sudden climate change brought down Egypt's Old Kingdom. Would these same scientists claim that a population of approx. 27 million individuals (or .4% of our current population) somehow caused a climate change from the burning of all those torches? Or, *gasp*, could it be something the world does simply on it's own.

I suppose that rapid population growth could have an effect...but I disagree with running around pulling out our hair to try to lower "greenhouse gasses." The Kyoto Accords are not what the US needs right now. I believe technologies are being perfected that will reduce those emissions. Hybrid cars, for example, are doing this now. In fact, when they make a nice sporty coupe with 250-300 hp and gets 50+ mpg, I might have to buy one. Heck, maybe Lotus will make an eco-Elise.

Citizen Smash says it well:

1. The planet is currently in the midst of a warming trend. Depending on how you define "warming trend," one can argue that this has been going on for just the past thirty years, as long as we've been keeping detailed records (about 150 years), or since the peak of the last ice age (20,000 years ago).

2. Some portion of the warming over the past century was most likely due to human activity, but how much is difficult (if not impossible) to determine.

3. Climate change is ongoing and inevitable. There is nothing we can do to stop it, or even slow it down noticeably. The Kyoto Treaty is useless. Whether the future brings us balmy temperatures, stormy weather, or another ice age, we have no choice but to go along with it. Any human attempt to engineer a 'better climate' will ultimately do more harm than good.

4. Extreme weather events are not a new phenomenon, and cannot be linked to global warming. Any scientist who claims that a specific weather or climate event is "evidence" of mankind's impact upon the natural environment is being foolish (and deserves to be mocked).

5. Our best course of action is to continue studying and observing the world we live in, anticipate any dramatic changes that are likely to happen, and prepare our civilization to carry on in whatever climate the future might bring.

The human race has survived an ice age, droughts, floods, earthquakes, massive volcanic eruptions, and several pandemics. There's no need for drastic measures. With a little prudent preparation, We'll be just fine.

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