Climate Confusion...another book review

Who would have guess it? I am now very skeptical that global warming our planet is experiencing is occurring because of the amount of greenhouse gases we put in the atmosphere.

Back in college, I was a meteorology major for my first year. Our professors, one in particular, warned us that the CO2 we are putting into the atmosphere will warm the Earth and eventually cause global problems by warming the earth by only a few degrees. Also, during the past 6 or 7 years I have heard a lot of news about scientists, politicians and countries all over the world warning of the coming doomsday. Is this an agenda of the "New World Order" for more global govermental control? Or is it a way to make money off of scared people? Or is everyone just misinformed? It's probably a combination of all three.

Well, yes the earth is warming but is it because of human activity? Nobody knows for certain. Even the author isn't 100% sure it is not. It is however necessary to debate the topic given the risk of negligence if the problem does happen to be from man-made activities.

The book, Climate Confusion by Roy W. Spencer, makes some good points. The first one really convinced me that global warming is not from man-made CO2 or Methane.

Point #1: The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is only 0.038% (about 0.027% pre-industrial), which is about 380 molecules for every 1,000,000 molecules in the atmosphere. Other greenhouse gases such as Methane are even lower. Since CO2 is such a small percentage of our atmosphere, the author argues that it can't have much effect. I agree. Water Vapor is the most potent greenhouse gas and is a lot more prevalent in the atmosphere. It's funny, you don't see scientists thinking of ways to reduce the water vapor in the air...without it, there would be no rain; )

Point #2: Many scientists now can easily receive funding (stay employed) by researching man-made global warming. If you are a scientist skeptical of man-made global warming, you are ostracized and can find little funding.

Point #3: Sometimes trying to help a problem will create another problem. For example: The banning of DDT is responsible for up to a million deaths a year in Africa. DDT can be used to combat malaria.

Point #4: Future predictions are based on models. The climate is extremely complex and modeling this system accurately is a difficult task. Look at how often weather reports are wrong when only predicting into the next week.

Point #5: Rising numbers of reports and devastation from storms could be due to increased population. More people live in the midwest, therefore, there is more probability that a tornado will be reported. More people live on the coasts, therefore, more devastation and lives will be lost to flooding and hurricanes.

I was always a little skeptical of man-made global warming but now I'm just a little more convinced that it's just hype. Scaring people makes money. Whether its about the climate or about terrorism.

Overall, it was a good book. The author definitely has a bias and I believe puts a little too much faith that economics will solve our problems but I recommend you read it to gain a different perspective.

So what do I believe now? I'm not sure. The earth is warming. Many of the skeptics claim this is because the sun is sending more radiation to us due to a normal period of heightened activity. However, I'm not sure I believe that considering that the sun's radiation is in a decreasing period yet we're still warming. We should not rule out the fact that other man-made activities could be attributing to the warming we are seeing. Could expanding cities (urban heat island) and deforestation be having an affect? I still think the Earth and its species are vulnerable to human activities. What we are doing is not natural, therefore, it can have an effect on something whether it is on a local or global scale. I have breathed and seen the pollution in China. There are always consequences to our actions.

I still consider myself an aspiring environmentalist. It has never been a global warming issue for me. My reasons for wanting to protect the environment are mainly due to localized pollution problems (air quality, water pollution, etc) and for economic reasons due to the depletion of non-renewable resources. I believe that sustainable/renewable energy and products are necessary to keep our economy stable. I also believe that living with less will preserve our resources, allow us to be more efficient and let us lead happier lives. Our wasteful and over consuming nature does not lead to an ideal society.

I want to save the trees and they want me dead

Ever wonder how close you come to dying in a given day? What if you missed a deadly car crash just because you couldn't find your keys when you left your house? Anything is possible and different decisions or external forces can be the deciding factor whether you live or die.

I had a couple minor incidents happen to me this past weekend that really got me to thinking about this stuff. Coincidentally, they both involved trees. I was at a friend's house sitting by a bonfire on Saturday night and a huge branch fell from a tree. It was about 15 feet behind me and would have seriously hurt or could have even killed me. Funny thing was, I didn't even flinch. The next day, me and the same two friends went for a hike out in what we thought was the Conestoga Trail near Lancaster, PA. During our hike through the woods, a storm rolled through. We kept walking and came to a campground and decided to turn around. Once we reach the spot we were at 5 minutes before, we saw large, sharp wooden shards all over the trail. About 15 feet away we saw a tree that had a fresh lightning strike on it.



The slightest delay in our hike could have led to us getting impaled by flying shards of wood or even struck by lightning.

My weekend brushes with death have not scared me or deterred me from doing the things I love. If anything, it has helped me realize that anything can cause your demise and you have to live it up while you still have time!

I probably won't post for a couple weeks. School just started so I have a good amount of homework. Also, I'm officiating the wedding of two good friends and going to Niagra Falls this weekend.

Take care and watch out for the trees...