January 2, 2011 Global Warming in General

It’s a mystery to me why Global Warming, AKA Climate Change, AKA Green House Gases has been politicized.  Well, okay, it’s not a complete mystery.  Those that are making money by creating Green House Gases have convinced portions of the public that it’s a lie established by the environmentalists and liberal media. 

I’m not so easily fooled.  The data is irrefutable that our climate is changing.  But rather than listen to the scientists, some people instead believe radio talk show hosts or their next-door-neighbor or the executive of an oil company. 

Regarding Climate Change, which I think is a more accurate description and gets away from the yahoos who proclaim there is no global warming every time it snows, I put people into 3 categories.

1.       Those that believe that Climate Change is real and that humans have contributed substantially to it and can therefore do something about it.  I belong 100% to this category.

2.       Those that believe that Climate Change is real but that it’s a natural phenomenon so why bother changing anything.

3.       Those that don’t believe Climate Change is happening.  These are the same types of people who still insisted that the world was flat after Columbus returned from the New World.   Or who accused Galileo of heresy when he proclaimed belief that the Earth revolves around the sun.  All of us have friends and neighbors who fall into Category 3 and we will not convince them otherwise, so we’ll just have to love them despite their crazy notions.

Believing that humans contribute to Global Warming does not make me a radical environmentalist.  It means that I am able to see the evidence and interpret it in a logical manner.  The glaciers are melting—everyone can see that.  Hurricanes are becoming bigger and more frequent.  Global temperature has increased, as per the data below from NASA.

I believe that if we do something about climate change, like work to find alternative sources of energy, it will create new American companies and jobs (and we won’t be sending as much money over to the Middle East where our money is used to arm people who want to kill us)

Those that fall into categories 2 and 3 usually cite the controversy between scientists and that it’s not all agreed whether or not Climate Change is caused by humans.  However, my friends who say this to me usually don’t realize that those “scientists” that claim humans aren’t creating Climate Change actually work for the oil industry or other businesses that cause Green House Gas emissions.  Remember the Tobacco Industry and controversy over nicotine addiction and how it causes cancer?  Well, the Oil Industry is the new Tobacco Industry in their lies to the public.

Most of the fiscal conservatives that I hang around with actually fall into Category 1, but are more concerned that “going green” will cost too much compared to the risk that human extinction will happen in their lifetime.   I also have friends and relatives who I categorize as far right fringe (and fall into Category 3) and they have patiently tried to explain to me why Climate Change is a ploy by the liberal media to take away their freedoms.    

I’ll probably talk more about Climate Change in future posts because it’s one topic that seems to bring out the loonies, and I love commenting on loonies.