Over the past two decades a terrifying new enemy has appeared…Global Warming. With the help of persons such as Al Gore, and most of Hollywood; global warming has become the device which will, according to the said people, cause the extinction of the human race; or at least trigger worldwide environmental and economic chaos, all in the span of decades. Despite the claims made by these people, there is sufficient evidence to prove otherwise. A growing consensus has emerged which believes global warming is a naturally occurring process and is not influenced by human activity.
The climate of planet earth is based on a periodic cycle called the glaciation cycle (Carlisle). These cycles occur roughly every 100,000 years, and are characterized by around 90,000 years of cooling followed by 10,000-12,000 years of rapid warming, called an interglacial (Carlisle). This cycle has repeated itself at least seven times over the past 700,000 years, and is relatively predictable (Carlisle). During the interglacial periods the temperature variation is estimated to be around 1.8° F, which is .3°F larger than currently measured (Carlisle). The temperature of the most recent ice age bottomed out 18,000 to 20,000 years ago at around 9 – 12.6 °F lower than presently experienced (Carlisle). This suggests that the current interglacial period is about to conclude, and temperatures should begin gradually fall over the next 90,000 years. The glaciation cycles demonstrate a regular pattern in the change in climate over a period of hundreds of thousands of years. These changes have been occurring before humans existed.
Despite the glaciation cycle, the global climate experiences anomalies of abnormally high and low temperature patterns. Two such events are the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), and the Little Ice Age (LIA) (Carlisle). The Medieval Warm Period occurred between 900 AD and 1100 AD (Carlisle). During the MWP average global temperatures were approximately 2 ° F warmer than today (Carlisle). The MWP is explained as one of the factors that lifted Europe out of the early Dark Ages, as the warmer climate allowed normally frigid areas to be cultivated (Carlisle). During this period the Vikings were able to traverse the North Atlantic without encountering ice. They settled Greenland (during this time it was actually green), and other areas of northern Canada where successful colonies were built (Carlisle). The Little Ice Age is another anomaly which occurred between the years of 1650 and 1850 (Carlisle). During this time the average global temperature was as low as 57 ° F, more than 2° F colder than present day (Carlisle). The Little Ice Age was so cold during the winters that the advancement of glaciers in Scandinavian nations forced the abandonment of entire villages (Carlisle). Both of these extreme fluctuations in the Earth’s climate occurred prior to the development of heavy industry, and they occurred during a time when the only carbon dioxide emission from human beings was from breathing.
There is still the question of what is causing the temperature to rise. Carbon dioxide is believed by many to be the cause for the effect of rising temperatures. Many charts and graphs have been created to show a direct correlation between rising levels of carbon dioxide and rising temperatures. In 1940, the levels of carbon dioxide emissions rapidly began increasing. This rise also led to a cooling trend which lasted until the mid 1970s (Inhofe). Many climatologists believe that not only does carbon dioxide have a negligible effect on warming, but it takes around 800 years for the temperature to react to the rising CO2 levels (Cihak). Cihak also states that global warming in itself releases carbon dioxide through melting ice (Cihak). Another more reasonable explanation to the rise in temperature is the natural variations in the earth’s orbit around the sun (Cihak). These variations can be changes in the distance from the sun, fluctuations is the polar axis, and increased solar radiation levels (Cihak). These Factors are far more influential than greenhouse gasses or increased carbon emissions. Carlisle explains the trend of warming to be related to the end of the Little Ice Age (Carlisle). Many proponents of the human influenced global warming cite the rising temperatures over the past 200 years. This coincides with the conclusion of the Little Ice Age in the mid 1800s (Carlisle). The rise of temperatures over the past 200 years can easily be explained as a recovery from the abnormally cold temperatures of the LIA (Carlisle).
In 1998 Michael Mann and his colleagues formulated a graph which supposedly illustrated undeniable proof that human activity has caused the global average temperature to be at its highest in over 900 years (Inhofe). Many people believed that this graph ended the debate, and this was solid evidence to show the damage human beings had done. There was only one problem with this graph, coined the “Hockey Stick”, it was extremely inaccurate and the Medieval Warm Period was virtually erased from history, to show a more dramatic curve (Inhofe). In 2006 a Canadian researcher funded by the National Academy of Sciences, and a separate independent Canadian researcher refuted the scientific foundation of the “hockey stick” (Inhofe). Many people believe the “hockey stick” was created in an attempt to remove the Medieval Warm Period from the argument. Dr. David Deming, assistant professor of geosciences at the University of Oklahoma states; “Alarmists fail to adequately explain why temperatures began warming at the end of the Little Ice Age in about 1850, long before man-made CO2 emissions could have impacted the climate”(Inhofe). After publishing in 1995 noting warming in the 20th century, he was contacted by a prominent global warming supporter and told “we have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period”; three years later the “hockey stick” emerged (Inhofe).
Former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, has become the “voice” of global warming. After a failed presidential run in 2000, Gore began attempting to raise awareness towards global warming. In 2006 Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was released. Senator Inhofe describes this film as “one of the slickest science propaganda films of all time” (Inhofe). This film presents the viewer a “planetary emergency” and Mr. Gore claims “the debate in the scientific community is over” (Lindzen 194). An Inconvenient Truth unfolds a barrage of catastrophic events such as melting ice sheets, massive sea swells, more frequent and stronger hurricanes, and an influx of tropical diseases (Lindzen 194). Gore’s film has been heavily scrutinized, and fact-checked; the results are intriguing. Gore Promoted and heavily relied on the “hockey stick” chart, now known to be highly inaccurate (Inhofe). Gore states that the arctic is in a period of “unprecedented warmth” yet, in reality arctic temperatures were slightly warmer in the 1930s (Inhofe). Mr. Gore does correctly identify a warming trend in the Antarctic Peninsula, but he fails to mention the cooling trend throughout the rest of Antarctica (Inhofe). Overall Gore’s attempt to “scare” the people into accepting that they have caused global warming did not work. Every example of human caused global warming Gore presents can be explained. The ice cap on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is definitely shrinking as a result of human activity. This activity is not elevated carbon emissions, as Mr. Gore would have people think, but it is rather a result of the native people harvesting the ice for local practices.
The melting ice caps in the north and south poles are another explanation for global warming. Many people say that rising carbon dioxide emissions and temperatures are contributing to the melting of the polar ice caps. The melting ice will cause a rise in sea level potentially flooding coastal cities. Jens Bischof, author and research Professor at Old Dominion University, theorizes the melting ice caps are a natural reaction to maintain thermal equilibrium (Bischof). Bischof believes that the only way to truly predict the effects of global warming is to study the pattern of icebergs (Bischof). When icebergs melt in the ocean, they leave a trail of sediment (Bischof). This sediment is in the form of ice-rafted debris (IRD) (Bischof). In effect IRD deposited on the sea floor can make a veritable trail of the carrier iceberg (Bischof). The increased amount of icebergs and further breakup of the polar ice shelves are explained by Bischof as the beginning of a cooling trend (Bischof). The interglacial period earth is currently in is just about over and the fracturing of polar ice caps suggests that the mechanism for global cooling has already begun (Bischof).
The Idea of Humanity having the ability to influence such a powerful entity like weather is nothing more than the ego of mankind running amuck. Over the past 100 years with the advent of higher levels of media such as; radio, television, magazines, internet, etc, there has been at least three separate reports of human influenced climate change (Inhofe). Sen. Inhofe presents several quotes from assorted news sources. Reported by Time magazine on January 2, 1939 “weathermen have no doubt that the world at least for the time being is growing warmer” (Inhofe). In 1974 Time reported: “a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval” (Inhofe). The quote from 1939 is of Time warning of global warming, the quote from 1974 is reporting on a coming ice age. The facets of media report stories like these because they intrigue the people who read it. This shows that the debate is certainly not over, and for almost 100 years people have been shifting from one cataclysmic climate change to the other.
The climate of the planet Earth cannot be changed or influenced by human activity. It is far too vast. It has been shown that earth operated on 1000 year glaciation cycles which have been occurring long before humans have existed, and will continue long after humans are a memory of this planet. The warming we are experiencing is nothing more than the mechanics of a highly adaptive process. The influence of carbon emissions, if they even are influential, is negligible at best.
Works Cited
Bischoff, Jens. Ice drift, ocean circulation, and climate change. Praxis Publishing Ltd., 2000.
Carlisle, John. National Policy Analysis. April 1998. 9 May 2011 <http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA194.html>.
Cihak, Robert J. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions Are Not the Cause of Global Warming." Haugen, David M and Susan Musser. Is Global Warming a Threat? Gale Group, 2006. 66-71.
Lindzen, Richard S. "Dont Believe The Hype." Goshgarian, Gary. Readings For Today. Pearson Education, 2008. 194-198.
