GLOBAL WARMING IS BECOMING MORE CONTROVERSIAL, NOT LESS
Reader comment on: Not So Dire After All

Submitted by DemocracyRules, Feb 2, 2007 12:26

Look, look, up at the sky! Do you see that? And that? The sky, the sky, it's on fire! It's burning, and can you see how it's spreading? Look over there – those -- over there, they look like clouds, but if you look closely, they're not, they're on fire! More and more of the sky is changing into fire! Everyone is looking up, and they see the same thing! It's on fire, it's burning, and it's going to kill us all! I can feel the heat, it's getting hotter and hotter, and we're all going to die...Ohh, my God, we're all going to die!

I heartily agree with Dr. Avery. The key problem for global warming theories is that the sea level has not risen much in the last 150 years. A small rise may have occurred, but this may be attributable to the "tail end" of the last ice age. If sea level rises much more, we may be able to ascertain what, exactly, is going on. If sea level declines, then theories of human-caused global warming will probably be relegated to the dust-bin of history.

If a long trend of global warming is occurring, there are two ways it could be related to humans. First, humans might be causing the warming. Second, global warming might be causing the humans. That is, most land mass is in the Northern hemisphere, where warming would increase and improve arable land, growing seasons, crop yields, and available water supplies. We know that global warming was beneficial to humans when the last ice age began retreating, but we do not know if these benefits have stopped. World population is increasing, but GDP per capita is also increasing rapidly, which probably causes more energy use per person. In this way, global warming could CAUSE the CO2 in the atmosphere to rise, instead of CO2 causing global warming. CO2 is not the most important greenhouse gas– --water vapor is. CO2 levels may or may not be causing global warming, and global warming may have stopped in 1998.

The entire warming debate is based upon conjecture until any sea level changes can be clearly attributed to human activity. Science has not yet clarified this key issue.

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