Climate Change

So far the presidential candidates haven’t had much to say about climate change or global warming. However, as the election draws nearer I’d expect to hear a lot of bright ideas about the subject, although I’m not real confident that they can pass an effective law against long hot summers. Oh well, somebody will try I’m sure.

The blame for the present global temperature rise is generally laid at the feet of western industrialized civilization and its genius for generating clouds of greenhouse gases that trap sunlight in the atmosphere. The world’s incessant demand for more and more energy has pressed us into consuming the fossil fuels that nature required millions of years to lay down, in little more than a hundred years. Consumption of these fuels, (oil, coal, and natural gas), primarily by burning them, releases a number of waste products that are popularly called “Greenhouse Gases”. These gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and others), allow the suns visible and ultraviolet light to enter the atmosphere freely, but when sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some of it is reflected back towards space as infrared radiation (heat), acting as a balance to maintain a steady temperature. Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere. These gases naturally blanket the Earth and keep it about 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would be without them. Over the past century, the Earth has increased in temperature by about 0.5 degrees Celsius, leaving a few scientists and many non-scientists believing this is because of an increase in concentration of the main greenhouse gases. People call this climate change “Global Warming.”

But another possible culprit is fast emerging. For centuries, scientists have known that the Sun is less steady than sunbathing and casual observation suggest. It has seasons and storms and rhythms of activity, its sunspots and flares appearing in cycles roughly 11 years long. But only in the last decade or so have these and other solar variations begun to be tied to climate shifts on Earth -- first tenuously, and more solidly of late. Today, a growing number of scientists contend that the Sun's fickleness might rival human pollution as a factor in climatic change. And some research, though sketchy and much debated, suggests that the Sun's variability could account for virtually all of the global warming measured to date. Others dismiss the possibility of such an influence, even while they agree the solar factor should be studied more thoroughly.

Global warming skeptics freely admit that earth’s climate is changing for one reason or another. However, they also challenge many of the claims that it is solely due to the activities of humankind over the last 150 years, stating that those claims are based on “junk science” and are heavily biased in favor of the desired results. Junk science can often be detected when the discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny of other scientists. Thus, scientists expect their colleagues to reveal new findings to them initially. An attempt to bypass peer review by taking a new result directly to the media, and thence to the public, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists. Then we have the politicization of science, which occurs when government, big business, or special interest groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research which might differ from their prefered viewpoint, or to influence the way the research is disseminated, reported or interpreted. Please note that these special interest groups can range from the local power company to the Serria Club.

Fears are that if humans keep producing such gases at increasing rates, the results will be negative in nature, causing severe changes in the Earths climate. It’s claimed by alarmists that these changes to the environment will most likely cause negative effects on society, such as a lower level of general health and decreasing economic development. At the same time, we have climate records that indicate we’re presently coming out of a mini ice-age, and that the Earths “normal” temperature is several degrees higher than we see at present. During the time of the dinosaurs the global mean temperature was approximately 35* F higher than today, with the tropics extending nearly to the current polar regions!

The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the signatory nations. The objective of the protocol is the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." As of December 2006, a total of 169 countries and other governmental entities have ratified the agreement. Notable exceptions include the United States and Australia. Other countries, like India and China, which have ratified the protocol, are not required to reduce carbon emissions under the present agreement, despite the fact that they emit even more greenhouse gases than the United States. Essentially, the Kyoto agreement severely penalizes the western nations, while doing nothing about the rapidly increasing emissions from industries of the developing countries. Under Kyoto, China is free to continue producing unlimited greenhouse gases even though it has recently become the world’s single largest producer.

While the environmentalists weep and wail about the soon to be announced total collapse of nature (for which Al Gore will probably win another Oscar), many countries and much of the multi-national corporate world are making money hand over fist buying, selling, and trading “carbon credits” issued under the aegis of the Kyoto protocol. These credits are issued for not producing greenhouse gases. Al Gore castigates President Bush for not signing the Kyoto agreement even while visiting his Hollywierd friends in a gas guzzling, smog generating SUV. Environmental activists collect outrageous speaking fees for telling the rest of the world how environmentally insensitive Americans are. The Sierra Club leaders fly around in private jets while drawing six figure salaries from their membership for “directing” the clean air and water drive. The rest of us are supposed to pay for everything while living a stone-age, non-technical existence I guess.

Dunno about anybody else in this neck of the woods, but my poor old aching joints definitely support global warming!