Man Made Global Warming?

As a meteorologist, it’s amazing the amount of questions I’ve got in the last few weeks from friends, colleagues, and others about where I stand on the whole man made global warming debate. The more people ask me, the more I want to do a blog post summarizing many of my thoughts on the debate. I’ve hinted in previous posts about the fact that there has been a gross bastadarization of the facts to the point where people believe the lie. Matthew Ebel and I discussed this effect a few weeks ago as to what he called “The Furry Effect.” While I don’t know where he got the name, the premise is simple: Get enough people to present a lie as the truth, and it BECOMES the truth in the minds of the culture. Man made global warming certainly fits this mold.

I viewed a video today on Google Videos that is probably the most solid assembly of the actual facts about how the manmade global warming theory came to be, how it has become engrained in the minds of the culture, and what the actual facts are. As a result, it’s given me the motivation to actually do this post.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the facts:

1. MYTH: Carbon Dioxide causes global warming. The main driving force in man made global warming is carbon dioxide emissions. One of the main evidence given by those that believe in man made global warming is the correlation between global temperature rises and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (taken from Antarctic ice cores). YES, there is a strong correlation between CO2 and global temperature. The unfortunately, supporters of man made global warming fail to accurately look at the data. In actuality, a rise in temperature actually PRECEDES a rise in carbon dioxide by a few hundred years. As a result, increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is an EFFECT of global warming, NOT A CAUSE.
2. MYTH: Climate change would be a catastrophic event that would create more violent storms, create massive droughts, and eventually make earth uninhabitable. The truth of the matter is that climate change is a natural part of the earth and sun’s cycles. It has always been going on, and will continue no matter what we do. The atmosphere has been warmer in the past as it is right now. The Vikings had dairy farms on Greenland! With regards to violent weather, warmer weather globally would result in a smaller global temperature contract, and thus, LESS active weather.
3. MYTH: Every scientist agrees in man made global warming. This statement, which has been coming out more and more in the last several months is what is driving scientists to stand up and say, “Wait a minute… NO!” I believe. Let’s face it… whether man made global warming is true or not, the benefit of curbing pollution into the atmosphere is a GOOD THING. I think the debate has been stifled in large part do to this fact.

Here is probably one of the most well done productions I’ve ever seen that explains the farce of global warming. There is one section that claims the global warming debate is keeping third world countries from developing that I hadn’t thought of before. While I certainly don’t believe it’s as big of a reason for the lack of development in places such as Africa as the video hints at, it’s an interesting aspect to the debate.

Apparently Google has removed the video in the past (likely that Furry Effect living out), so hopefully you will have the opportunity to watch it if or before it gets removed again. Take the time to watch it. It's over an hour, but VERY good.

Living the hype

How many of you believe that a heat wave in your area is a sign of global warming? Seriously...

I've been thinking about this quite a bit today as some news organization and uninformed readers have claimed that the record 12 feet of snow in upstate New York is a result of global warming. Their claim: Global warming = warmer Lake Ontario = record snows.

*bangs head on desk*

The truth of the matter is that Siberia has seen the brunt of the arctic surge the first half of the winter, which allowed the eastern US to be warm. Hence, warm lake. Then when the arctic cold finally comes (along with some lift-enhancing disturbances) you get serious lake-effect snows.

But that's not the main thought that has crossed my mind today (as much as the global warming claims aggravate me). Unfortunately, it shows how media and political hype over controversial issues twists and distorts the truth. These organizations hype hot-button issues toward their side, presenting them as fact. In the case of global warming, as scientific fact. Then, when average people are presented with any claims to the contrary, those claims are marked as idiotic, uninformed, and externally motivated.

This is true in many of the politically charged issues right now. Global warming for one. The height of the global warming claims come from model simulations of what could happen if we continue doing X and Y. I'm all for cleaning the air, so when it comes to it, it's a good thing. But none of those models have verified as of yet, and the world can exist with temperatures warmer than they are now. Shoot, the vikings had dairy farms on Greenland!

Another topic, evolution. There is scientific fact to both claims, but anyone opposed to evolution is marked as a religious fanatic not willing to accept "scientific fact". In fact, it has gone so far as governments pulling funding for research to those that oppose evolution. And those are just two areas. Say nothing about how the media has made Islam and Christianity the sum total of their radical sects, and countless other politically-charged topics.

It all boils down to how easily we accept anything as "fact" the instant we see it. We have lost our critical eye in this information age, and these issues just scrape the surface of how lazy we have gotten. Maybe we simply rely on the media too much to give us a completely researched report. If we can't even rely on them, how more can we rely on citizen journalists?

I'm just as guilty as many of us in being easily distracted by shiny objects in the hype of news, but we are in for a lot of hurt as a culture if we don't start to regain that critical eye. Even more, if the media we have come to rely on continues to choose hyping up a story for ratings or politics over accumulating all the facts, yet we like lemmings continue to believe and accept it.

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