Conclusions By Lynn Reed

The more I look, the more I am convinced there are three camps.

Advocates of global warming – it’s real, it’s man made, and the results are
going to be catastrophic if we don’t intervene and do something.

Advocates against global warming – It’s not real, there’s no fact-based scientific
evidence to support global warming.

Lastly the crackpots – special interest groups claiming a global warming position, claiming the "sky is falling," taking an alarmist position and requesting money and your support in a special interest or cause.

Advocates of global warming claim to have evidence to support their position and claim to have data to back up their facts. While there is evidence that the earth has warmed a little in the last 20 or so years and some scientists link it to CO2 and other pollutants being released into the environment, in most cases, through the articles I read and researched, there seems to be limited data to support their position although many proponents in this camp will show the statistically noticeable rise in average temperature and quickly link it to small changes in CO2 concentrations.

While I’m not sure, one way or the other, that this is real and connected, there are others, just as plausible explanations to a warmer earth. The temperatures we are seeing now is not the first occurrence in earth’s history. It also existed in the 1300’s during the Medieval Period. We can’t attribute conditions during that time to CO2 rise – obviously, something(s) were the cause. Other plausible explanation could be the sun – we like to think of our sun as a model citizen in the sky – it’s not. It has hiccups all the time and considerable variability in solar output. The earth is a pretty big heat sink in which to dump excess energy and, yes, we do see variations in our climate.

Is part of this thing we’re seeing man-made? More that likely, at least in part. Should we be concerned? Yes.

Solution: Being a good steward of our natural resources is a wise and good thing. There are a world of ways in which we can do that.

Lynn Reed / July 17, 2007

 

September 3, 2008