We have all had it drilled into our heads at every possible avenue: don’t use plastic bags at the grocery store; our planet’s temperature is warming too quickly; the sea levels are rising at levels too rapid for us to control.
These, among many other statements, are being tossed around lately as often as Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is on the bottom shelf of the movie rack.
Let’s face it, nothing that we as a human race are doing right now can cause the Earth to burn or the ocean to drown us. Global warming and cooling has been occurring long before man was present. There were – from the days of long ago to present times – natural disasters and melting glaciers.
For example, “global warming” has been said to have largely affected the amount of flooding and tropical storms. This is a false statement.
Our (minimal) carbon emissions cannot have an effect on the weather. Solar activity, however, can. Through any amount and depth of studies performed by endless groups of scientists or “green” radicals, humans have not been reported to have anything to do with solar activity.
Apparently, the populous also is increasing the carbon dioxide levels. What you might not be aware of is the amount of carbon dioxide has well exceeded 18 times the amount in the past. Even more shocking, these levels were from a time when there were no cars, factories or (gasp) grocery bags.
In fact, globalwarminghoax.wordpress.com reports that 96.5 percent of carbon dioxide emissions are produced by natural sources, leaving a mere 3.5 percent emitted by humans.
Also, according to the same site, approximately 18,000 signatures from scientists the world over were gathered on “The Oregon Petition.” This petition states there is no evidence for the man-made global warming theory and furthermore none for any effect from mankind’s activities affecting climate.
Still worried the ice caps will melt and drown you in your lifetime?
According to humanevents.com, glaciers are not only melting, but also advancing all over. If the advancing is caused by cooling and melting is because of warming, then we find ourselves in quite a predicament.
How can our precious Earth be simultaneously warming and cooling enough to effect us all at once? It is by only a small margin they don’t just cancel each other out.
I will be the first to admit that I hate to see someone chuck the wrapper of a cheeseburger out the car window. When I bag my groceries at a self-checkout station, I try to use very few bags.
I also ride my bike to class instead of driving my car, (and for the sake of my conscience, let’s pretend I have a parking pass and legitimately want to save the planet). And nobody likes to see smog billowing out of a factory tower.
Just remember, on the larger scale of things, these concerns are really not a large contributor to this “global warming” phase so many are concerned about.
We should all be able to go about our lives and not be made to wonder if what we are doing at any given moment is going to increase the temperature of our planet by one-millionth of a degree.
Global warming may not be complete fault of humans
Published: Friday, November 7, 2008
Updated: Friday, November 7, 2008
16 comments
"Realist" sounds about as informed as Mr. Campbell. However, the research being done shows that the ice is melting, not growing.I don't claim to be an expert, but here's the facts that no scientist can deny right now. 1: "global warming" is a misnomer, as it implies that the average temperature in every possible place on Earth is increasing, or will increase. The scientifically accepted term is "climate change," because it does not carry the same meaning. 2: the average max temperatures during the summers have been increasing by varying degrees, but that's not the best aspect of the climate to look at to determine if we're having an adverse affect on the environment. Instead, it is widely accepted that one should look at the noticeably increasing instability of weather patterns (no, not hurricanes, but the wild fluctuations in temperature during spring and fall, or even just the decreasing lows in winter) as a more effective means of measurement. Looking at that, its easy to see we're doing SOMETHING to the climate.But its true, we have yet to prove beyond a doubt that humans are the sole cause of the current climate change "crisis." We know that volcanoes spew greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. We also know that ozone is created with every single lightning strike. We know that the geological record shows that the Earth has a long history of warming and cooling cycles. Does this mean we shouldn't try to be more careful with how we're treating the planet? There's four ways to look at and handle this:
Situation A) There is no problem, and we take measures to stop polluting. Since our pollution isn't causing the harm we think it is, we spend a ton of taxpayer's money to clean up our acts. We are now without that money.
Situation B) There is no problem, and we take no action. We don't lose any money, and nothing is the matter. Hey, that's awesome!
Situation C) There IS a problem, and we take action. We spend money to stop companies from polluting, research the problem further, discover alternative fuels, etc. Hopefully, between the more restrictive environmental protection laws and the research, we solve the problem. We spent taxpayer money to get there, though.
Situation D) There IS a problem, and we don't act. The problem gets worse, possibly even inhospitable to human life. The human race is wiped out.So, of those 4 (admittedly simplistic) scenarios, which would you prefer?
- Former Collegian Columnist and KSU Alumnus