As my final blog post, I thought it would be appropriate to address global warming, one of my most passionate opinions. Let me be perfectly clear: I DO NOT BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING. Sure, some days are hotter than others but this does not mean that we, human kind, are in the midst of some global tragedy. How vain and egotisitcal of us to think that we are the sole forces behind the ebbs and flows of nature?
Consider this, just thirty years ago the nation was concerned of a global cooling. The following is a quotation from a 1975 Newsweek article:
"The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century."
World temperatures were in fact falling since about 1940. It was around 1979 that they reversed direction and resumed the general rise that had begun in the 1880s, bringing us today back to around 1940 levels.
In addition, the data taken from surface thermometers (thermometers on Earth instead of in satellites) do not yield accurate representations of the Earth's climate changes. From a 1998 Washington Times article:
"Thermometers cover less than half of the Earth's surface and are unevenly distributed, with more measurements being taken in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. On land, temperature readings have to be corrected for the "heat island" effect, a local warming that occurs over time as cities spread outward. Then there's the difficulty in patching together records of measurements taken by different collection methods. Until the 1940s, ships would measure sea surface temperatures by dropping a thermometer into a bucket of sea water. Today, sea water temperatures are measured by thermometers affixed to buoys, or in the intake ports of ships.
Recently, the addition of ocean buoy measurements in the tropical East Pacific and their role in recording a possible false warming has come under investigation. There is also evidence that air temperatures taken just above the ocean surface have not risen nearly as fast as sea water temperatures, and it is sea water temperatures that have, up until now, been included in global temperature estimates. Finally, although land-based thermometer readings have had some correction for the "heat island" effect, there is reason to believe these corrections have not been sufficient. Even small towns and rural thermometer sites, which are uncorrected, have in general experienced population growth. In short, thermometer estimates of global warming are not "truth" either."
These few points are only the tip of the iceberg too. The global warming concerns stem from political platforms and criticism of the current political leadership, among other things.
I do not deny however that the sudden obsession with global warming has yielded good results. It has resulted in greater focus on protecting and taking care of our environment and many more green products and services. I am in complete support of these actions. However, it's going to take a lot more than a "green car" or a "green household cleaning spray" to convince me that global warming is real and ready to stay.
4 comments:
This is interesting. In astronomy we actually learned that in the next decade we will experience a "global cooling" because of lack of activity on the sun. We learned that temperatures are actually expected to drop a few degrees. I don't know if this is true, but last time their was a lack of solar activity, there was a mini ice age.
I was looking into some info on global warming. This is interesting, especially after that article in the Washington Post. From what I read, it seems like temperatures have been rising and falling throughout history. This is nothing new. I completely agree with you in that respect and that it has brought about some positive changes. I want some concrete evidence that global warming is real. That's all I'm looking for. Part of me wants to believe all the hype about global warming and the need to "go green," but it seems natural for the temperatures of the earth to rise as it's happened before. It seems natural for the temperatures to fluctuate. For now, there's probably nothing to worry about.
This is something I've been interested in hearing for a long time. A lot of my media sources are too liberal to publish anything that denies global warming, but it's nice to see this evidence in print.
I agree that global warming is being blown far out of proportion, but I think that even if it were completely fake, it's important not to be so wasteful with energy because of the political and economic complications it causes. Our wastefulness might be worse than our egotistical idea that we are the cause of global warming.
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