Friday, November 2, 2007

Global Warming: Fact or Figment of Alarmists' Imagination?

Turn on the news, open a newspaper, or stand at the water cooler and you will eventually hear that the world is falling apart and it is due to global warming. First off, very few people will disagree that there is global warming. That is not for debate (at least not here). The issue of debate is whether man is the sole contributor of this increase or is it occurring naturally. There are plenty of websites on both side of this argument to look for answers but which is correct? I believe in the "there are two kinds of people in this world" saying. In this case, there are two kinds of people in this world: people who believe the alarmists and people who don't! The alarmists are not a new group of people, they have been around probably since the dawn of time. Every generation has heard that oil is running out. Most often the alarmists will also give a time line such as "oil will run out in 20 years". The world has heard it since the 1800's and the fact remains no one knows when we will run out of oil. Is it possible that the oil companies themselves are doing this to drive up the price? I don't know.

Several years ago the Bird Flu was the story of the day. The following are headlines I collected from the web about the bird flu: "NPR: Bird Flu Deaths in Thailand Raise Pandemic Fears" (December 8, 2005), "Britain prepares for bird flu death toll of thousands" (August 7, 2005), and "U.N. backs off 150m flu deaths" (September 30, 2005). These head lines were meant to invoke fear in you. The alarmists were on to something. But then something happened. Actually, nothing happened. The pandemic never happened. There have been 204 deaths from the bird flu since the 1990's. If you believe the hype, 36,000 people die each year from the "normal" flu in America, see CBS news:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/07/health/main535605.shtml

Another example was SARS. I thought that the world was going to end in 2003 because of SARS. What happened? Again, nothing happened. There wasn't a SARS pandemic. Going back a few more years, Y2K was going to cause planes to drop from the sky, nuclear missiles to be launched, and turn your expensive laptop into a paperweight. When the clocks struck midnight, nothing happened. After three failed attempts by the alarmists (bird flu, SARS and Y2K), the new "sky is falling" is "man-made" global warming.

In the 1970's, the alarmists stated there was "global cooling", see what Newsweek and Time Magazine said:

http://www.denisdutton.com/cooling_world.htm

www.junkscience.com/mar06/Time_AnotherIceAge_June241974.pdf

How can we have a "global cooling" scare in the 1970's and now thirty years later we have "global warming" scare? If a weatherperson can not accurately predict the weather in 3 days, how can a scientist predict global climate 20, 50, or 100 years out? Many against the global warming argument point to the flawed nature of the computer models being used to conduct the global warming studies. Some would argue (myself included) that the earth is too complex for a computer model. To say that a computer models is 100% accurate is to say that we know everything about the earth and how it works. That can not be true hence the models are flawed. Members of the left, have also tried to down play the number of scientists who have signed a petition (over 19,000) that rejects the mainstream view on global warming. To view the petition, click on the link below:

http://www.oism.org/pproject/

What is the truth? An Inconvenient Truth? To be honest, I have not seen it. I have seen clips and read excerpts but I refuse to watch it. I do not have to watch it to know that it is filled with lies and exaggerations. You can read about 35 Inconvenient Truths about Al Gore's movie from the Science and Public Policy Institute here at the link below. The nine lies identified by the British judge are included as well.

http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/goreerrors.html

One possible cause of global warming is an increase in solar flare activity. According to the American Institute of Physics, if there is a link between solar activity and the temperature of the earth, the effects may over ride the human impact on the planet. See below:

http://www.aip.org/pnu/2003/split/642-2.html

According to NASA, the planet Mars is also heating up. They state that the planet's temperature, in the last 30 years, rose approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit. Using photos from two Mars missions, scientists also state that the polar ice caps are melting. Click the link below to view the NASA article:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/2007/marswarming.html

Every year NOAA releases their Hurricane season prediction. It was predicted that there was a good chance of a above-average hurricane season. To read this years prediction, click below.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2864.htm

As the Hurricane season comes to a close, 2007 will rank as the most inactive in 30 years! To read more, click on the link below:

http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/

Here's the rundown on global warming:

1. The computer models are flawed. The earth is too complex.
2. If the weatherperson can not predict the weather in 3 days in one geographic location, how can scientists predict how the earth will be in 100 years.
3. If hurricanes are a indicator of global warming, how come we had two off years when in both 2006 and 2007 "above average" hurricane seasons were predicted.
4. Increased solar flare activity could be helping to increase the temperatures on earth.
5. Mars is also experiencing global warming. Last time I checked Mars did not have industry and automobiles to cause an increase in temperatures.

2 comments:

ASHE said...

You're assuming that all these scares come from the same group of "alarmists." I agree that certain powers benefit from creating a nation of fearful consumers, but you have left out perhaps the largest group of "alarmists." Those who have used lies and exaggerations to justify a never-ending global war on terror. The military-industrial complex has perhaps the most to gain from perpetuating untruths that result in a fearful electorate.

Unknown said...

Is the information from the same people who said that cancer clusters are just random, while your kids are playing in pools of sludge from PG&E, GE and others? I am not sure whether global warming is real or not, but the truth of the matter is that we have been keeping records for only a small fraction of the earth’s life. Why should this stop us from changing the way we live? Why shouldn’t we make our air cleaner, stop our dependency on foreign oil, force factories to slow or stop CO2 emissions and find alternative energy solutions. Doing all of this only cleans our planet, and allows for us to pass down a healthy planet to our children. As far as most scientists believe that global warming is not happening, I would beg to differ. I believe that most scientists and people around the world believe that it is happening. However, we have a major dilemma, by the time all the facts are in, and we decide whether global warming is real, it will be too late. So what do we do? Why not be prepared, by taking action. This doesn’t mean that I am going to walk to work to prove a point about energy, or sabotage a corporation that is polluting our earth. This is about everyone doing small things around our house, asking our politicians to help pass a productive and sensible energy policy. Those of you that are pro business or for a free market will say, it will cost a fortune, how can you burden companies and ask them to change the way they do business. Well if we come up with a comprehensive plan that will allow for tax breaks for those who comply than the loss will be minimal, and by conserving energy it will save these same companies millions. These are small steps that we can take to change our culture without much cost. That leaves my question to you, why not do this?

We Will Never Forget

We Will Never Forget