Myths about global warming

Ok, I'll try to be more serious. I've been watching this global warming craze for too long not to say anything. The other day I saw a commercial where these children are saying something like "Tick tock, tick tock..." in reference to the impending doom we have caused our planet. This comes off the heels of Al Gore bringing out a movie that gives a very compelling argument that we, as humans, have caused global warming. His title? "An Inconvenient Truth."

Here's the problem: it's not definitely true! Everyone knows this, and yet nobody has said how one-sided his argument is. Nobody finds it odd that he has declared universal truth to an issue scientists spend THEIR WHOLE LIFETIME debating! Now some people might ask "is everything he's saying really true?" but I am afraid the public will more quickly say "it says an Inconvenient Truth, so now I must have gotten the full story." With that in mind, a few myths about global warming:

MYTH: Since temperatures have gotten warmer lately, humans have caused global warming.
It is true- temperatures have risen lately. It is also true that humans have caused an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We do not know for a fact whether these two events are related. It may be, but it is not definitely true. In fact, the earth goes through cooling and warming periods in cycles of 100,000 years! We cannot take 100 years of data and say for sure that this current change is not part of one of these huge cycles. In fact, it is arrogant to say that we definitely have more power than these cycles. We have no idea.

MYTH: When you go out and it is unbearably hot, you should blame global warming for the temperature!
Even if it were 100% accepted as fact, Global warming still only accounts for a change in temperature of less than 2 degrees! I find it funny when people say the heat is from global warming. Apparently they can tell the difference between 97 degrees and 95 degrees!

MYTH: Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the only thing that has changed in the past 100 years, so this must be the cause of any change in the temperature.
Actually, the earth's elliptical orbit around the sun is imperfect and changes over time, the earth's tilt wobbles, and there are cycles in the number of sun spots that are directly related to the radiation the sun gives off. ALL of these have an effect on the earth's temperature.

MYTH: Carbon Dioxide is the number one greenhouse gas
Actually, water and methane both have a bigger greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide. We just haven't changed those.

MYTH: Global warming only has one outcome- the icecaps will melt and the earth will be completely underwater (starting with Florida).
Sorry Florida, but if this does happens you will indeed be underwater. However, and I don't quite understand this myself, global warming can actually just as easily cause the ocean tides to go so crazy that they will cause an ice age! (which is also the probable outcome of the 100,000 year temperature cycle if global warming isnt true!)

MYTH: Brandon Finegold loves George Bush Jr. Brandon Finegold thinks we should just burn up our entire planet without fearing global warming.
I know this blog could potentially piss people off and make me look like a conservative, but I am not. I hate George Bush I swear. I think that he should not have backed out of the Kyoto protocol (which promised to reduce carbon dioxide emissions). I agree with any step that Al Gore can propose to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. I just philosophically can't agree with him calling global warming a truth. Not when he is not a scientist. Not when many scientists have argued the point their whole careers. In other words, I don't know for sure its happening, but I still think we should do everything in our power to keep it from happening.

Of course, preventing global warming means we have to do exactly what we always have known we have to do: USE LESS FOSSIL FUELS! In other words, from a conservation standpoint, high gas prices are a good thing! We are trying harder than ever not to burn gas! Next up? We need to look into more alternative energy. The problem with that is there is no perfect choice. We fear Nuclear Power Plants for obvious reasons, and if we switched to them probably in 100 years the nuclear waste crisis would be worse than the global warming crisis. Nobody wants wind power in their backyards (eventually people are going to have to suck it up- its either ugly up the world we have or lose it for good) and the turbines kill birds! Solar power still doesnt work so well. I propose we get tour de france teams to do all their training on electric generators! Put all that elevated testosterone to good use! (Okay, i couldnt stay serious this WHOLE blog, could I? I hope you made it all the way through this one to reach that backhanded shot at Floyd Landis!)

If you are interested in this topic, I HIGHLY recommend reading State of Fear by Michael Crichton. It happens to be fiction, but his main point is we believe things to be the "truth" too easily without looking for all the facts. That and there are many ultra tree-hugging liberals that are willing to destroy the earth to get their point across. In other words, he wrote about a group of Brown graduates. And its all about the myths of global warming!

(Finally, in case you are wondering my sources, most of what I know comes from a graduate class i took last year in teaching Water and Weather. Thanks Professor Olsen!)

The next blog I write will be completely lighthearted and contain no science, I promise. Until then....