“Global warming” is a hot-button issue that has transformed the political landscape and polarized our nation’s population almost as much as the war in Iraq. Scientists in the global warming camp tell us that we must act NOW to minimize the damage caused by greenhouse gases and stop the phenomenon altogether before it reaches a so-called “point of no return”. Other scientists however say the evidence is inconclusive at best, and even if human-induced global warming is in fact a reality we still have plenty of time to react before things get out of hand.
Speaking as a non-scientist, I have my own opinion about global warming. I think the concept itself as well as the movement behind it are politically motivated. Lots of cash and quite a few lucrative careers depend on our acceptance of global warming as a reality and an imminent danger.
Well, I simply don’t see any real evidence to suggest that global warming is even occurring. After all, if the average world temperature is increasing at such an alarming rate, shouldn’t we be seeing more and more record highs and fewer and fewer record lows? It seems to me that both of them are still occurring about as often as they have in the past. Also, shouldn’t areas that rarely see a measurable snowfall see even fewer of them if the world is in fact warming up? Tell that to the fine citizens of New Orleans.
Of course the global warming proponents will say that even in a period of overall warming there will be anomalies, and that is correct. But this fall we have already seen more “winter” in most parts of the country than we have seen in years, and as I’m writing this the outside air here in southwestern Virginia is cold enough to make a polar bear shiver.
The fact of the matter is the earth goes through cycles of heating and cooling, and those cycles often last for decades and longer. After all, we have had not one, but at least two ice ages where thick layers of ice and snow covered much of the world’s land masses. How do we explain the periods when all of that ice melted? Global warming of course. And the periods during which all of that ice accumulated were periods of…yes, you guessed it: global cooling. My guess is that we earthlings will see plenty more of both in the decades and centuries to come. And if I’m wrong? The swimming pool industry in Alaska will grow by leaps and bounds.
I agree with you. If something of that nature had not occured would we still have dinosaurs and wolly mammoths?