Global warming: imminent crisis?

By Kevin Gledhill
Collegian Reporter
March 28, 2007

“Balance is bias.”

These words about media reporting could have come from the mouth of some fascist leader of the 20th century. Imagine my surprise when I found that a leading American politician and former senator, vice president and presidential candidate said just this during a press conference last month. I don’t mean to imply that Al Gore represents a totalitarian viewpoint, but this statement seems completely contrary to the most basic principles of liberal democracy and of the United States. I disagree with Gore. I believe we need to discuss every issue rationally. For this reason, I would like to present a few scientific studies and facts that may provide, at long last, some balance on the issue of global warming.

First, it is important to realize the impact of the sun on global climate change. According to Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov, the Head of Space Research at Russia’s Pulkovo Observatory: “the alarmists have confused cause and effect. As solar radiation warms the earth, CO2 is released into the atmosphere from the world’s oceans.” A NASA report released Sept. 20, 2006 showed that between 1999 and 2005 the polar ice caps of Mars have been melting at a much faster rate than the glaciers on Earth. The NASA scientists did not rule out the possibility that the sun was the cause of the Martian warming pattern.

Henrik Svensmark of the Danish National Space Center argues in his February 2007 book, The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change, that a decrease in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth’s atmosphere has caused low cloud cover. Since these clouds bounce ultraviolet rays from the sun back into space, the decrease in their number has allowed for more heat from the solar rays to enter the atmosphere. This problem is compounded by the fact that, as Svensmark says, “We have the highest solar activity we have had in at least 1,000 years.”

There are many other purely scientific questions that one could raise regarding the global warming debate; at present, the hypocrisy of those who advocate “green” policies is an issue of extreme concern. Gore is the most obvious example of how a double standard has been applied. It does not make much sense to me that a person concerned with excessive carbon emissions should travel in a private jet. Gore’s response to this charge was that he buys carbon offsets – credits from those using much less carbon – to ensure that his use is neutral.

This, of course, is absurd. Supposing that everything Gore says about global warming is true, the entire world would have to be “carbon neutral” for these offsets to work. At present, much of the world uses products that release far more carbon dioxide, and therefore, nothing short of “carbon negative” can help Gore to save the world. The Kyoto Protocol should help to achieve this goal, right? Any advocate of the Kyoto agreement must explain why 13 of the 15 EU members who originally signed the treaty have increased their carbon emissions since the signing, according to Svensmark.

I’m not saying there’s not some degree of global climate change occurring. I don’t mean to suggest that it is entirely a natural phenomenon, although I can’t say for certain that it isn’t, either. But I want to make people aware of a fact that most don’t know. In a middle school science class; I was taught that global warming was undoubtedly real. I didn’t question this fact. It wasn’t until this last year that I became aware that there was any dissent at all.

I’m not asking you to throw caution to the wind and burn all the fuel you please, but before we rush to conclusions, we’d better have more than a scientific hypothesis (as opposed to law or theory) to motivate drastic changes in our lives and economic system. And let all voices be heard. In the words of Dr. Richard Lindzen, “Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided and themselves labeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.”

Therefore, I ask everyone, on campus and around the world, to have a sensible debate on global warming. That is how people may find truth and answers, both in science and in our democracy.

gledhillk1@lasall.edu