GLOBAL WARMING MYTHS

    The earth has warmed and cooled over geological time, and has experienced significant climatic changes over the past 10,000 years of human history.

     Temperatures are rising, and have probably been doing so since at least 1850, certainly since the depths of the Little Ice Age around 1600. However, there is no concrete, or generally accepted scientific evidence that the current global warming episode is due to anthropogenic causes. Solar, orbital, and tectonic effects, and their combined impact on the world's oceans are the most powerful climate drivers.

     In the August issue of Nature, researchers Paul N. Pearson and Mark R. Palmer, cite recent scientific evidence that carbon dioxide levels during the Cretaceous Period were over 2000 parts per million, and that "normal" CO2 might be about 500 ppm. The current level of CO2 is about 360 ppm. Emissions from fossil fuels may, in fact, cause no climate change due to increased solar reflectivity.

     The United States is being asked to accept the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. Under this international agreement, 38 developed nations must reduce their greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, and SF6) emissions by an average of 5.2% below 1990 levels during the 2008 to 2012 timeframe. Unless there are some major technological break-through in alternate energy resources, combustion, and emission control technologies, American citizens will have to make significant adaptations to their life-styles to achieve compliance. In the end, these efforts may have no impact what-so-ever on global warming!

     Global warming is a fact. Rather than spend a decade arguing over percent industrial CO2 reductions, and who is to blame, scientists and politicians alike should focus their efforts on how to solve and mitigate the social impact of the significant regional climatic changes that will result. These will include drought, famine, and sea level rises that will cause massive human dislocations.