Sunday, February 01, 2009
Global Warming - in Columbia Magazine
If you believe that there is a "consensus" that humans are causing climate change, the comment letters to this article may change your mind...
Here's part of one published comment to a previously published article in Columbia Magazine:
"It is hard for the rational person to believe that man’s tiny contribution to the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere can cause catastrophic climate change.
Second, most of us understand that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, but a naturally occurring substance that we exhale with every breath and that plants use in photosynthesis. For people to accept that carbon dioxide has suddenly become a dangerous pollutant is a stretch.
Third, media references to “consensus” on the causes of global warming are false. There never has been a consensus that human activity is sufficient to change climatic conditions. Science works by observation and measurement, not by consensus.
Fourth, historical evidence shows cyclical variations in climate predating industrial activity. Near the end of the 10th century, Norsemen settled Greenland, named for its green foliage. After the Medieval Warm Period ended, glaciers wiped out the colonies, and Greenland was icebound by 1410. This is one of many examples that give the lie to anthropogenic global-warming theory.
Fifth, climate data over the last 150 years or so do not show a correlation between increased carbon dioxide emissions and increased temperatures. For example, the warmest period of the 20th century was during the 1930s, which was a period of economic contraction. The period from 1944 to 1976, one of unprecedented industrial activity, was a time of cooling.
Sixth, recent scientific data show that the earth is cooling, not warming. The reason is solar, not human. August 2008 was the first month in almost 100 years in which no sunspot activity was recorded."
