The Facts About Global Warming
Why is this so? Have human activities been a significant factor? There is lots of room for argument and varied opinions. There are pro and con opinion holders on both sides of the case who state quite unequivocally that the “facts” supporting their theory cannot be argued against, and that anyone disagreeing with their interpretation is either a fool, who does not interpret the observed data properly, or else must be a charlatan who promotes false ideas either to benefit himself or a sponsor who is providing financial support for his work.
No true scientist will ever state unequivocally that no room is left for further argument, and that further study of a subject is a waste of effort. This applies to climate change and global warming as much as to any other study. We have many “facts” which are used to support arguments on these subjects. These supposed “facts” are quite debatable in many cases and the conclusions drawn from them cannot be considered infallible.
The great majority of studies cover climate change for the last few hundred to a few thousand years, however the climate of our world has seen many profound changes over hundreds of millions of years. Areas which at the present day have temperate or cold climates once had tropical conditions as is plainly seen in the fossil evidence. Arctic climates have existed in the past in places which are now temperate or warm areas. Only ten thousand years ago all of Canada and also the northern part of the USA was covered by hundreds of feet of ice. This is an example of extreme climate change in our own part of the globe. This occurred long before modern humans came along to wreak havoc on the air, land and oceans. Obviously these major climatic changes were the result of natural causes which can cause similar changes at any time.
There is little doubt that the activities of man are at the present time playing a role in global warming. The question, which requires much more study, is just how much of a part has our pollution of the atmosphere and of the oceans, and our rape of land and forests, actually played in the observed global warming. It could very well be that mans activities are the cause of only a small fraction of the observed changes.If this is indeed the case then modifying our activities will have very little if any effect, and the major changes which are the result of natural phenomena will continue no matter what action we take.
