Reader Feedback: Reality And Global Warming

Editor’s Note: This letter was written in response to the August Seed For Thought column. In the column, the two extreme points of view on global warming are discussed.

Reality And Global Warming

John Stossel is not the only person to present data that diminishes the idea that 1) global warming is a reality, and 2) it is a “crisis” situation. The writer (and doctor), Michael Crichton, has also done a superlative job of researching the topic from both a political and a scientific perspective for his novel, State of Fear.

Anyone who wishes to examine data that presents an alternative point of view need only to utilize the resources and links listed in the extensive Appendices and Bibliography that Crichton included in this book. These include research papers, peer-reviewed scientific articles, and ongoing data collected from various sites across the globe that all point to at best a minute (less than one degree) increase in the earth’s temperature over the past 200 years.

This brings me to my second point, which is that because data on temperature has only been collected for 200 years, the data represents a fraction of the entire picture of the earth’s climate and temperature cycles. Using this data to predict the future would be like taking a 30-second sample at random from any 24-hour day, and making a judgment about the quality of that day and of subsequent days. One puzzle piece does not an entire picture make.

Paleontological and geological evidence, however, help fill in many of those puzzle pieces with glimpses into our prehistoric past. The indications, at least in the Midwest, are that the earth has cooled considerably since the days of the dinosaurs. There are places along the Ohio and Wabash Rivers in Indiana, for example, where fossil evidence indicates that plant and animal species that currently only survive in northern Florida and Georgia were abundant. The coal and petroleum reserves in west-central Indiana and east-central Illinois point to a past teeming with lush carbon-rich plant and animal life that was destroyed and converted, if you will, to those pesky fossil fuels we now enjoy.

My question to the global warming alarmists is this: Who made the decision that the temperatures we currently experience are the optimal temperatures for life on Earth? If “global warming” is a phenomenon, could it not be the Earth returning to a state of equilibrium after the massive cool down of the Ice Age?
Finally, if global warming is truly a “crisis” situation, would its evangelists not be vigilant in changing their own life choices and behavior to retard its advances? Strongly held values and beliefs usually impact behavior. For example, I have objections to gambling and believe that it has a corrosive effect on attitudes. As a result, my investment portfolio contains not one share of casino stock, despite this sector having offered significant growth opportunities between 2003 and 2005.

Science is not a consensus-driven arena, and pure science — like pure journalism — continually asks “who, what, when, where” and most importantly, “why.”  It’s time for the global warming crowd to face those of us who question their authority.

Jean Fritz
KittyVista Organics
Shirley, IN