What I'm Doing

Monday, April 30, 2007

Global Climate Change

I came across a couple articles today on (cue movie-trailer voice) "Global Climate Change" (bum bum bum...) that were interesting. The first, from an Australian news source, is headlined, Ocean currents to blame for global warming: expert, and begins with this sentence:
The United States' leading hurricane forecaster says global ocean currents, not human-produced carbon dioxide, are responsible for global warming.
The second article, from the British edition of Times Online, is titled Climate change hits Mars. I found this part particularly interesting:
Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.
Just a couple tidbits you probably won't be hearing from Al Gore anytime soon.

Now, just to head off any criticism (i.e., I'm pretending I actually have an audience that might criticize me), I'm all for being more environmentally responsible. I grew up in a family that turns the lights/TV off when they're not being used, that recycles, that turns off the water when it's not needed, etc. As a Christian, I believe that God has tasked us with caring for the Earth that He has given us.

I just find the doomsday scenarios one hears from such public figures as the previously-mentioned Al Gore to be rather doubtful, and am somewhat incredulous regarding claims that human activity is to blame.

It is my, albeit uneducated, opinion that climate change is a natural phenomenon, and is merely part of the life-cycle of our planet. Frankly, "Global Warming" is such a politicized issue that it is hard for me to accept the rather one-sided presentation that is often given in the media.

Part of my issue with the alarmist aspect is that, if successful, it may lead to efforts being pushed through to "reduce carbon footprints," etc. before they've been well considered.

Take ethanol, for instance. It has been pushed as a "clean" fuel; instead of fossil fuels, ethanol is made from corn. At the outset, this seems like a great idea: a renewable energy resource. Except that, as ethanol use increases, corn which could have been food for people or livestock gets bought up by ethanol companies. As a result, the price of corn rises, the price of livestock rises, and we end up with a clean energy source that literally starves the poor.

In other words, it's a case of the butterfly flapping it's wings in Beijing and causing a hurricane in San Francisco.

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