I don’t buy the warnings of Al Gore and others about man-made global warming. I have written extensively on the topic, and Canada Free Press regularly runs pieces debunking the global warming scam.
We non-alarmists have presented what I hope are logical arguments on the issue, but perhaps we haven’t presented enough basic facts to bolster our position. Therefore, I’m going to keep the arguing to a minimum and simply present some facts. Then you can decide what you think about global warming and what, if anything, we should do about it.
Did you know…
The earth’s climate is always changing.
During the Medieval Warm Period (from about 1000 to 1400 A.D.), global temperatures were much warmer than today, despite the absence of CO2-producing SUVs and heavy industry.
The earth is still warming after the Little Ice Age, which lasted from around 1400 to 1850 A.D.
The earth’s temperature rose about 0.6 degrees Celsius in the 20th Century. This happened mostly at night, in winter, and in the north. The Southern Hemisphere has not experienced any significant warming in the past 100 years.
Temperatures in the U.S. have stayed constant or even cooled somewhat since 1998.
Most of the warming of the 20th Century occurred from 1900 to 1940, when humans were producing far less CO2 than today.
From 1940 until the mid-1970s, the earth cooled considerably despite massive growth in CO2 producing industries.
In 1958, Betty Friedan wrote in Harpers, “Certain signs…indicate that we have been watching an ice age approach for some time without realizing what we are seeing.”
In 1975, Nigel Calder wrote in International Wildlife, “The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind.”
In 1992, Gregg Easterbrook wrote in Newsweek, “The advent of a new ice age, scientists say, appears to be guaranteed. The devastation will be astonishing.”
The sun’s activity more closely correlates with global temperatures than CO2 levels do.
Atmospheric CO2 levels don’t cause global warming; they are more likely caused by global warming (mostly by the oceans releasing CO2 in greater amounts as temperatures rise).
CO2 emissions in the atmosphere have risen from approximately 300 parts per million 200 years ago to approximately 380 parts per million today. That’s an increase of just 80 parts per million.
Humans produce only 3 percent of all CO2 in the atmosphere. Plants, wildlife, the natural decaying process, and the oceans contribute the other 97 percent.
The increase in worldwide temperature readings in the 90s coincided with the closure of hundreds of temperature measuring stations in places like Siberia as the former Soviet Union crumbled. With fewer stations in cold climates but the same number in warm climates, average global temperatures showed a false increase.
The South Pole is getting colder.
Most polar bear populations are thriving.
Hurricane number and intensity follow patterns unrelated to global temperature changes. After a disastrous hurricane season in 2005 which alarmists blamed on global warming, not a single hurricane hit the U.S. in 2006.
Hurricanes are no more common today than they were in decades past. In fact, from 2001-2006, the U.S. experienced hurricane numbers well below the average of 17.7 per decade.
In his movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore showed photos of Mt. Kilimanjaro that demonstrated a receding snowcap. In fact, Mt. Kilimanjaro—and Kenya as a whole—has been getting colder for decades; the snowcap is receding because of regional land use and atmospheric moisture changes.
The Kyoto Treaty, seen by many alarmists as the savior of the earth, would have zero effect on global temperatures even if it were fully and perfectly implemented.
Kyoto has been implemented throughout Europe. Europe under the Kyoto Protocol is currently increasing its greenhouse gas emissions faster than the U.S.
Ex-French President Jacqes Chirac said in November, 2000, that Kyoto was “the first component of an authentic global governance.”
I’m not a scientist; I’m a teacher. But you don’t need to be a scientist to understand a scam when you see one. Global warming (and cooling) is a natural phenomenon. It is not caused by human behavior. The Global warming craze is the latest craze for those who love crazes, and it’s a way for those who wish to control human behavior to do so while claiming to be “saving the world.”
Perhaps Christine Stewart, Canada’s environmental minister said it best when she said, “No matter if the science is all phony, there are still collateral environmental benefits” to global warming policies. In other words, “It’s a lie, but the ends justify the means.”
Mike Jensen——
Bio and Archives
Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado. He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway. He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers. He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.
