On Global Warming

Sure it's scary. But is it our fault? Is it inevitable?

Mrs. Clinton says, "I don't think there is any doubt left for anyone who actually looks at the science."

I say, "Bullshit."

I say, "I don't think there is any doubt left for anyone who actually listens to the soundbite."

I say, "I don't think there is any doubt left for anyone who actually looks at the spectacle."

Yes the glaciers are melting, and the mosquitos are getting scary big, and they are carrying infections, and biting birds, who are getting the flu ------- Wait, where was I going with this?

Science.

From science we know the past. And from science we know how a lot of cool and freaky stuff around us works.

But we can't see our place in time. And we don't know how everything works.

We know from geological evidence that the Earth warms and cools so dramatically that sometimes ice covers a large portion of the planet. And we know that sometimes the ice melts away and makes lakes and rivers that carve out our surroundings. But beyond a certain point, we don't have a real good feel for how much of that ice melts. It's not all of it, but how far down have things gone in the past? Or might it sometimes be all of it? Did it melt all the ice everywhere before? Did it melt all the Alaskan ice a million years ago and thus help shape the coast line of today? Is it worse now in Alaska than it was then? Are the deadly Chinese Walking Fish walking ever further north just to avoid a sunburn

Who knows?

The fact that the Earth is warming may or may not have anything to do with the industrial revolution. Is there more soot in the air now? Yes. Can we say that that is worse than a pre-scientific volcanic eruption? No. What about a lightning strike in a drought-ridden American West a miilion years ago that could burn millions upon millions of acres in a time long ago and leaving not enough of a path for modern science to sniff and detect? We know today that airline contrails and volcano eruptions and forest fire soot all have an effect on the weather. We can't tell the degree to which volcanos and fires may have made things far worst in the past than they are today.

We have nothing to make us think that we are in anything other than a not-yet-fully-understood cycle of gradual planetary heating and cooling. The Earth heated and cooled before humans. It will heat and cool after humans (please tell me you don't think the species will outlive the rock...). To think that it will stop heating and cooling during humans, just seems silly to me. If you disagree, well, you still shouldn't worry because I'm sure you'll be able to fix it when you get to heaven.

Jonathan 8/18/2005 09:02:00 PM