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Location: Somersworth, New Hampshire, United States

I am a veteran who took seriously his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The Global Warming Propaganda Machine

Global warming is a major political issue in the US and several other countries. Allegedly the temperature of the earth has been increasing and many people believe that this gradual increase in temperature will cause global cataclysmic destruction. Many people claim that CO2 causes the temperature to increase by preventing heat from escaping from the atmosphere. I remember as a child being taught that during the day the sun radiated heat to the earth, and at night heat the heat would radiate back into space. I was also taught that clouds reflect heat back to the earth at night and back into space during the day. Since CO2 is a transparent gas, it allows all visible light and most of the IR spectrum to pass through it. The tiny amount of IR light that CO2 absorbs is negligible when compared to the entire light spectrum. In the 1970s, there was a similar panic about “global cooling”. I don’t think there is enough substantial data to conclude that the average temperature of the earth is going up or down. If the earth is getting warmer, there is no conclusive evidence showing that our behavior as humans is causing any substantial portion of it. One thing that I know is that trees and other plants use CO2 to grow, and they thrive in environments that are rich in CO2­. A study that I read found that trees that were growing in city environments with higher concentrations of CO2 thrived and grew faster than trees that were growing in less populated areas that had more trees, and less CO2. This showed that the more CO­2 that a tree is exposed to, the more CO2 it will convert to O2, causing the tree to grow faster and balance out the gas levels in it’s vicinity. Have you ever thought about how the temperature of the earth is measured? Statistical analysis, which is not a very accurate method for measuring anything, is used to determine the “average temperature of the earth” by measuring the temperature of a bunch of samples and finding the average. Now we all know (I hope) that weather patterns move about the earth, bringing cold and warm fronts all over the place, so temperature readings in one location will not show a gradual increase or decrease in temperature, but wild fluctuations from very cold to very hot. Using statistical analysis, you could choose different points and/or times to give you any trend that you wanted to get. Given the relatively minor changes in average temperature readings, you could come to the conclusion that the changes fall within the standard deviation for a relatively consistent temperature range. I have not seen any data showing where, how, or when the measurements were taken. Did they take into account the release of heat and steam from volcanoes and lava floes into the atmosphere? Did they measure the average temperature of the earth, sea, and air, figuring in the specific heats of all of the materials in the system? There have been fluctuations in temperature on this earth for thousands of years, and we have adapted. I believe that any changes in the earth’s temperatures and gas ratios are just part of the natural cycle that the earth has been following for thousands of years. There are areas that are under ice that evidence suggests was once more temperate. Iowa was once under the ocean and Massachusetts once had glaciers. The cycle will continue regardless of what treaties are signed and how you get to work. When CO2 levels go up, the plants compensate by consuming it at a faster rate. I think that certain political groups (socialists, communists, democrats) and their supporters in the scientific community are using the global warming controversy as a political weapon to turn the masses against those who support capitalism and libertarian principles of less government intrusion on our lives. When someone points out flaws in their theory, they regurgitate their propaganda, saying that their detractors are denying global warming because they work for or are being funded by big oil, manufacturing, or people who are polluting the earth. They want to force us to become their subjects who will follow their dictates. I am all for designing and producing cleaner and more energy efficient technologies to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to reduce pollution, but unlike the rest of the Chicken Littles out there, I don’t think the sky is falling. I have listened to and read the arguments that have been given concerning global warming, and have found them to be inconclusive. I wouldn't worry too much about global warming because the earth will probably be destroyed by other means before global warming has any significant effect on our lives, other than in the political arena.

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