My sister-in-law was asking for some information on the myth referred to as "man-made global warming" and my response turned into the following long winded declaration of my view. I'm certainly not an expert on global warming and I don't know the "science" behind it very well. I quoted science because I think that there is at least as much political rhetoric being passed off for science as there is actual data. I am willing to concede that some level of
global warming may be occuring, but even if it is happening I find it hard to believe that it is the result of human activity. After all I've read and heard, the scientist in me says that the there really isn't enough solid data to draw a strong conclusion. There are too few data points to know what is really happening and the data collected just seems too indirect to provide reliable conclusion. The theory is based on a lot of computer models and my experience with computer models says that they mostly represent one of many possibilities, but are almost never completely accurate. The thing that really makes me skeptical about these computer models is that there is no way they can have reliable data for thousands of years worth of global temperatures and when you feed minimal amounts of data into a computer simulation, you can get wildly inaccurate output. In the end, my biggest concern with the whole idea is my gut, which tells me it is purely a political ploy/scare tactic, but I'm not exactly sure what is to be gained by it. It seems that the weak nations of the world think that they will benefit by making the US bend the knee to the global warming alarmists. I read something the other day about the Kyoto protocols that sounded pretty much on target. The Canadian Prime Minister said, "Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations." I think that the idea is that if only the wealthy nations, (re. the US) are bled of their wealth by having to try and meet unachievable and very-very costly cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, then that wealth will flow to the poorer nations of the world. What the ignorant don't understand is that if the US gets poor,
the rest of the world gets poorer with it. The world prosperity is a direct result of US prosperity. Along these lines, Jacques Chirac summed things up by saying that Kyoto represents “the first component of an authentic global governance," which he thinks is a good thing. The sad thing is that the gullible masses in the US are buying into the media driven hype and scientific distortion and the left is adopting man-made global warming as a platform item because it fits well with their environmentalist, America is bad and needs to bring itself down to wallow in the mire with the rest of the world, lets get the world together under a single government where the US isn't the major power and none of the values that have made our nation great have any influence, agenda. There may be Democrats who
have actually bought into the overly politicized science (re. Tubbyt Al Gore) and so they truly think that they are trying to save the world by pushing global warming on the lemmings that follow them, but I'm sure that most of them are probably in on the "secret combination" to get wealth and power.
My opinion has been informed by many sources over the years, many of which I could not possibly remember. , Senator James Inhofe has made a number of informative statements on the issue and seems that summarize my thoughts pretty well. He used to lead the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works until the Democrats took over in January, and is a big opponent of the whole global warming scare. Some of his statements can be found here (this is a good one that has references to a lot of other web resources), here, and here. Also, a couple of recent blog entries that links to a number of other resources are here,
here, and here.
Also, Michael Crichton's book "A State of Fear" is a pretty accurate piece of fiction that is based on a lot of real research. He includes a long epilogue in which he explains why he believes as he does and I found this very insightful.
Update: Right after writing this I came across these quote in a global warming article about the recent UN report.
"global warming is 'very likely' caused by mankind and that climate change will continue for centuries even if heat-trapping gases are reduced."
"Despite the report's dire outlook, most scientists say the worst disasters — huge sea level rises and the most catastrophic storms and droughts — may be avoided if strong action is taken soon."
It all sounds a little too convenient that this catastrophe will already have effects for centuries, yet the worst disasters can be avoided by quick action, mostly from the US. If the global disaster ball, yes think on a global scale, is already rolling, can anything we do stop it? It just gets more frenzied and ridiculous every time they open their mouths or pick up their pens.
