Global warming is just a new fad to take your
cars away right? Wrong. There is nothing new about it. As early as the 1890’s
scientists were speculating about the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide on
the temperature of the Earth. In 1938 G.S. Callendar first proposed that the
Earth was already warming due to carbon dioxide emissions and produced evidence
to demonstrate it. But not many people paid any attention. The advent of
digital computers in the 1950’s meant that more thorough modeling of the
atmosphere could be done. Some of the mechanisms that were thought to offset
the carbon effect, were shown to not be valid. New alarms began to be raised.
In the late 50’s and early 60’s scientists started explaining this problem to
the general public. But the idea was slow to catch on. Those who got concerned
about such things, tended to be more concerned with the effects of pollution
which could cause things like lung disease, cancer, and acid rain. These were
things the general public could grasp without a degree in physics. The
scientific community had been skeptical about global warming due to carbon
dioxide emissions. But as more modeling, experiments, and observations were
done, they became more convinced. But it was not a quick consensus. Scientists
never do anything quickly. By the 1990’s nearly all the skeptical scientists
had been converted. The evidence was overwhelming.
One specific study from 1987 was telling:
Scientists drilled down into the ice of the arctic to see the relationship
between geologic warming periods and carbon dioxide levels. They did indeed
find a relationship. During the ice ages the carbon dioxide parts per million
got as low as 180 and reached as high as 280 parts per million during the warm
periods. At the same time, they measured the current carbon dioxide in the air
over the ice and saw that it was then 350 parts per million. Nowhere in the
geologic record had the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide ever been
so high.
In the 1970’s There was a concern about fossil
fuels, but the concern that was on most people’s mind back then was that we
would run out of them. It is a finite resource after all. The OPEC oil embargo
showed just how vulnerable the west was to shortages. The panic from that time
led to conservation and fuel efficiency, but it also led to more exploration
and development of new techniques for getting at hard to reach oil reserves.
Consequently, we are no longer so worried about running out of fossil fuels. In
fact, they have become cheap. That is part of the problem.
One of the things about global warming is that
it can change the climate in ironical ways. All that energy fed into the
atmosphere changes wind patterns and currents. It destabilized the polar vortex
so we find blizzards reaching the deep south in America. We see more and more
extreme weather. I have lived on this Earth for sixty years and never heard of
a tornado in December . . . until recently. Things are happening now that have
never happened before. We are seeing more extremes, Extreme drought in some
places, extreme rain in others, more hurricanes and tornados and just plain weirdness.
Anyone who still believes global warming is a
hoax, is a dunderhead. Plain and simple.
They have chosen to believe those with a vested interest in the status quo
rather than all the scientist in the world. Scientists
have been predicting this for a long time. Now that it is actually happening, you do not get
to declare they were wrong. Science is the way we come to understand the
world. Science has created the modern world. Of course, that’s not all good.
Every advancement has side effects. Still, if side effects are bad, that
doesn’t make the science wrong. It just means that what we do with it needs to
be thought out. Science doesn’t care if
you are liberal or conservative, or what political party or religion you are. Science
is just science. It is all about getting at the truth. I said anyone who
believes it is a hoax is a dunderhead. But there aren’t really as many of them
as you might think. Most of the people who call it a hoax don’t really believe
that. They know that global warming is true, but they want to make their money
or votes, or get their subsidies from the oil companies. Even the oil companies
know the climate is changing due to carbon dioxide. For a number of years they have all been making
plans to mitigate the effects . . . for their shareholders.
[If I
haven’t driven you away yet, my novel Star Liner, (which has
nothing to do with climate change) is now available in paperback or as an
e-book through Amazon, or the other usual online sources]
Star Liner
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