The Chilling Consequences of Global Warming

robert Meyer

With the presidential election having been decided, and George W. Bush winning a second term, look for complaining by the liberals on a variety of pseudo-environmental issues. Over the next four years, we will hear a lot of jaw-jacking about the Kyoto Treaty and global warming.

Now I'm not a scientist. In fact, I have never done any statistical research that would qualify me to have my own informed opinion as to the existence of this global warming phenomenon. But that is not my approach to the issue anyway. I don't know if the earth is actually warming or not. My questions are to what extent the process is caused by human beings, can we prevent it from happening, and are the alarmist positions really justified?

First of all, I have read several concurring articles that suggest humans contribute less than 5% of the total carbon dioxide present the atmosphere. If that is the case, it would seem the culprit might be the natural agents which contribute the remaining 95%. Unless naturally produced carbon dioxide is always constant, it seems unlikely that the smaller variable of human production could be setting everything out of kilter. After all, we are told that we had a geological ice age several millennia ago, and there was no internal combustion engine or factory smoke to initiate the global warming that caused glaciers to recede.

As we approached the end of September, a local meteorologist reported that the mean temperature in my locality, was warmer for September, than the same measure for June, July or August. A rather unusual happenstance. At the same time we were hearing about the numerous hurricanes striking mainland Florida. One liberal columnist implied that the Bush environmental policies caused the hurricanes. I have often found hysteria like that to be a sign of theoretical weakness.

As for great variance in temperature readings, I suggest people should do some reading on the weather patterns of the 1930's. That decade witnessed the greatest extremes, at least here in the U.S.A. If you recall, the Midwestern "dustbowl" was a factor contributing to the severity of the nation's Great Depression. In many areas, we experienced extremely hot summers. At that time, nobody was advancing theories about carbon dioxide causing warming of the earth. We had fewer man made contributors. So if global warming in really occurring, can burning less fossil fuels really keep it from happening? I don't know, but I doubt it.

What cause do we have to doubt the alarmists? Well, much of it is anecdotal, yet effectively makes the point. When my parents were young, they were told we would soon run out of the earth's supply of coal. When I was younger, I sat in science classes where documentary films were shown that predicted smog would cause the earth to cool, and that we would all need gas masks by the mid 1980's. In the 1960's we were terrorized by the specter of Paul Erlich, and his "population bomb" statistics. When we moved into the 1980's, we were warned of the ominous "Jupiter Effect." A phenomenon where all the planets were in orbital alignment, which would cause a catastrophic gravitational force for the inhabitants of earth.

In 1983, we had a Sunday night premier of the movie "The Day After." The movie depicted a nuclear holocaust, and how it impacted residents of small town Kansas. The movie terrified a nation that had endured over three decades of cold-war threat. After the movie, a network anchor interviewed then Secretary of State George Shultz, asking the prophetical question: "Are these shadows of the way things must be, or only shadows of the way things might be"? Schultz emphatically answered "neither." And who among us was not impacted by the hype surrounding Y2K? When advertisements for ordering gold coins and dehydrated food supplies via credit card started popping up, I knew it was overblown and unlikely to be problematic. If experts have been dead wrong about all these calamities, I don't think my own skepticism is entirely irrational.

There are probably a myriad of other hysterical incidents that can be recalled. Things supposed to spell doom for mankind that just faded away. One issue that has been the fodder for disaster films in recent years, is the idea that a large asteroid will collide with earth. Now how do we solve that problem? There will always be some crisis looming on the horizon threatening human existence, with no foreseeable solution. There will always be a cadre of alarmists who want to remind you about these insurmountable challenges.

This sort of mentality has overtaken many in the Christian church also, who have their own version of this "end times" loathing. Consequently, so many Christians who could have a positive impact on cultural reformation, having functionally withdrawn from society completely, opting to remain in their bunkers waiting for Armageddon. Instead of believing that "no man knows the time or hour," they have become fascinated with just about anyone who offers a time line which attempts to make sense of current events in articulating an "end times" scenario.

Now I'm not condemning the virtues of ecology either. I don't litter, I turn down my thermostat, and I have driven smaller cars most of my adult life. But some of these things make good economic sense for me, and I won't attack anyone for making different economic choices. While I believe there is a moral obligation to environmental stewardship, I don't worship nature or place animals on the level of humans. It is funny how people will say that anything between consenting parties is their own business, but when it comes to environmentalism, there are things we must all be compelled to do. I also don't believe it is wise for this country to sign treaties that are economically destructive and biased against us. And I certainly roll my eyes with disgust at those who say conservatives want to dirty the air, poison the water, and contaminate food, yet never bother to explain how the "cons" are going to survive after the liberals all perish.

For those who disagree, I say, practice your environmentalism in your own Backyard!