You seem to have rolled into one a large collection of issues - the politicians, the media, policy decisions, and scientific facts, so they can all be decided and dispensed with at once. Whereas I see these issues as separate things. I am not taking a position on political policy, or the media, or politicians. I am only talking about scientific fact. So when you bring in Al Gore’s movie, or any of that stuff, you won’t get any argument from me on any of those issues. We probably agree on many of them. But it is beyond belief that the majority of the world’s climate scientists could be coerced into perpetrating a hoax in making up raw data. (I’m not talking about isolated cases, but about the climate scientists as a whole.)
I like it when we agree…I get a warm fuzzy feeling all over.
From a scientific perspective (remember I’m not a scientist) I would somewhat agree that the Earth is probably warming. Although, noted climate scientists, back in the late 1970’s, were predicting a new ice age (cause for skepticism?) I simply cannot accept the idea that this warming (or cooling) trend is nothing more than the natural climate cycle of the Earth. I believe that it is absolutely absurd to think that man can have such an effect on the climate system of our planet. I also believe that it is the height of arrogance, especially for Catholics, to accept this theory.
Please understand that I include media and government along with science because, from my perspective they have become very intertwined in this issue. We have the media sensationalizing and misrepresenting a scientific report. That leads to a government over regulating an economy based on false understanding of scientific reports.
However I will concentrate on science for the remainder of this discussion.
Of course everyone knows that the earth’s climate has undergone extreme changes over the eons. Otherwise how could there be oil under Alaska? But you are wrong in thinking that the only tool available to study the history of Arctic ice is historical testimony. Just like you can cut down a very old tree, and by measuring the pattern in the tree rings you can chart the amount of rainfall going back hundreds of years, so ice cores can be drilled into the polar ice and all sorts of amazing parameters can be determined. You see the yearly snowfall deposits ice in layers that can be counted just like the rings on a tree stump. So we actually do know a great deal about what went on in the Arctic long before man ventured there.
…and what do the ice core samples tell us about the amount and fluctuation of Arctic ice in relation to concentrations of CO2? Hmmmmm.
You keep saying that, but it just isn’t true. Today there is a sizable shipping season during which navigation of the Northwest Passage is relatively easy. That has never existed in recorded history, the McClure Expedition not withstanding.
Roald Amundsen completed the first successful navigation of the Northwest Passage in in 1905. He got stuck in the ice for a whole winter…but he made it through.
Actual records of Northwest Passage navigation began in 1966. There have been years that ice prevents any passages…and, like now, there have been years of relatively ice free conditions.
My point being…the NATRUAL fluctuations of climate and weather occurring before man was blamed for global warming.
The facts are certainly suggestive of that conclusion.
The facts are ONLY suggestive and very nebulous. So far I have not seen any concrete PROOF (not a study, not a computer model, not a theory and certainly not a consensus ) that man is causing the Earth to warm. In FACT, most of the predictions have not been true.
In a way I am looking forward to a scientifically accepted experiment that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that mankind is responsible. Because then we can argue about what the ideal global temperature should be set at…
