Cobourg Skeptic – Climate Change and Resources

I am unhappy that the media are ignoring the ongoing evidence that man-made global warming is a myth but there are occasional good items. James Benedem of MATC Times, The Student Newspaper of Milwaukee Area Technical College, has written an excellent summary which I have reproduced below.

Skeptic: Person indisposed to accept popularity or authority as proving the truth of opinions.

The May 14 issue of the Times published an article on melting ice in the Arctic Ocean and labeled it an “accelerating crisis” that could lead to a “runaway catastrophe.”

The essay concludes: “What must we do… We already know the answer – drastically reduce greenhouse emissions.”  This is a response to that essay.

The real question concerning global warming: Is carbon dioxide the significant cause of warming the earth? It all hinges on this question: Does adding CO2 to the atmosphere make the world much warmer? Here is what skeptical scientists have to say about this question:

• The “greenhouse signature” is missing. If greenhouse gases are warming the earth, computer models say we should see a “hot spot” of air 10 kilometers above the tropics.
• Weather balloons from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program measured the global atmosphere during the warming period of 1979-1999 and found no sign of the predicted “hot spot.”
• Ice cores reveal that CO2 levels rise and fall hundreds of years after temperatures change. They cannot be a cause of warming since they follow the warming, they do not precede it.
• The world is not warming any more. Satellite data shows the world has not warmed since 2001, even though carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increased.
• Carbon dioxide is already absorbing almost all of the light that it can. CO2 “soaks up” its favorite wavelengths of light and it is close to the saturation point. More CO2 in the atmosphere does not translate into significantly more warming.

There are many scientists who support these opinions. This past spring a conference was held in NYC to examine the “global warming theory” and over 30,000 scientists signed documents that supported the position that nature, not man, controls the planet.

Here are the words of just two of the many skeptics:

• Botanist Dr. David Bellamy, a famous UK environmental campaigner and former lecturer at Durham University: “… global warming is largely a natural phenomenon. The world is wasting stupendous amounts of money on trying to fix something that can’t be fixed.”
• Dr. Kiminori Itob, award- winning Ph.D. environmental chemist, on warming fears: “… the worst scientific scandal in the history… When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.”

Well, all of this wouldn’t matter so much if it were simply two people disagreeing over the weather.

But, the alarming fact is that Congress proposed legislation this past summer – it passed in the House of Representatives already – that would severely limit carbon emissions.

If this or anything similar were put into law, it would have a disastrous impact on the US economy.

President Obama clearly knew this when he said: “Under my plan of “Cap and Trade,” energy costs would necessarily skyrocket.”

The bill amounts to a huge tax on everyone – one that would fall most heavily on the poor. And it would be one more step along the path of government intrusion into the private affairs of every citizen.

Footnotes

1. I have citations for every claim and quotation featured in this article. Please contact me if you would like to check them.
2. The ice in the Antarctic is increasing at about the same rate as the Arctic is decreasing. This is a pattern that has happened before. And the polar bears are not in any danger, but are actually increasing in number.

For the original article, go here.

I am sure James would be happy to see this get wider circulation.