The Global Warming Debate continues. Brett has written a follow-up piece for the newspaper.
Last month you were kind enough to print my letter critical of the hysteria over “Global Warming”. By the articles and letters I have read in the Chinook since then, I fear the impact of my letter was blunted somewhat, both by the ambiguous headline you chose and my own reluctance to speak in absolutes.
I’ll try to be clearer and more precise: Catastrophic Man-made Global Warming is a fiction, an irrational construct that logically cannot exist.
My first proof is that the sum total of heat energy expended by mankind is less than one tenth of one percent of that arriving from the Sun, which is less than the normal variation in the Sun’s energy. Therefore, Man can hardly be identified as the cause of even a fraction of a degree change in the world’s temperature, let alone several degrees when nature produces over 99.9% of the heat energy.
Secondly, in addressing the claims of those promoting the “Greenhouse Effect”, the same mathematical logic applies. The greenhouse gases that trap the Sun’s energy are 95% comprised of water vapor, which mankind has no control over. The remaining 5% greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, come overwhelmingly from natural sources. Volcanic action and even termites release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than human activity. Humans are responsible for only about 5% of that 5% non-water vapor greenhouse gases, or less than three tenths of one percent. Again, given that the variation in the amount of greenhouse gases produced naturally is greater than the total produced by mankind, how can man be responsible for catastrophic change when nature is in control of over 99.7% of the greenhouse gases?
Third, some seem to think that it is a fact that carbon dioxide causes increased temperatures, when it is at best an untested theory. There certainly does seem to be some correlation between the two, but the same can be said of smoke and fire, and no one makes the claim that smoke causes fire.
Additionally, I could point out the errors of making assumptions based on incomplete data, collected less than randomly and limited to only the most recent history, but I believe my point is made. Even assuming the data collected by Man-made Global Warming supporters is accurate, and even assuming their greenhouse theory is true, it is still mathematically impossible for mankind to have an appreciable effect on the climate.
One final point I would like to make regarding the “Sainted” Kyoto Treaty. The US Senate unanimously refused to ratify it, before President Bush ever took office, because even if it was followed completely by all parties, it would not significantly reduce greenhouse gases (because, as stated above, it isn’t possible to). It would also cost our economy trillions of dollars, and send a large amount of jobs, capital and polluting factories to India and China. Kyoto is expensive, unfair and counterproductive, a hideous idea better placed in the dustbin of history than on a pedestal.
Brett Malin
On days like today, we are reminded about why we live here. Brett took some time off from the office and we enjoyed the extra hour of daylight that Congress gave us to take a walk on the trail.
The last day of February and we are having SNOW! Not only is snow practically unheard of here- the daffodils are in bloom and spring is around the corner.
