re: Al Gore and Global Warming

So...Al Gore has made a "documentary" on global warming called "An Inconvenient Truth". The only probably with that title is most of the film is speculation and conjecture based on pseudo-scientific principles and non-sequitur fact correlation.

One glaring claim in this film is that "humans may have only 10 years left to save the planet from the mass destruction of global warming". Uh huh. OK lets go back to 1985 when Ted Danson of "Cheers" fame proclaimed that we only had 20 years left before the oceans were useless to us if we didn't undertake a massive cleanup policy. Well, here we are 21 years later and not only are the oceans still full of life and vitality, they're actually cleaner than they've ever been. No huge change in policy regarding oceanic cleanup happened and in fact within those 20 years, we've had two major oil spills in our oceans. How is this possible?

Another "myth" constituted in Al Gore's film is that "hole" in the Ozone layer is a direct symptom of green house gas emissions and global warming. Unfortunately the facts don't bear this out. For one thing, no one knows how long the hole in the ozone layer has been there, why it's primary residence is over the Antartic nor why in some instances it has shrunk and expanded over time. You see science only discovered the hole within with the last 20 years. We didn't have the technology to detect it before then so who knows how long its been there or even if it is actually a natural occurrence. We simply don't know for sure. Another fallacy is that somehow we can destroy ozone forever with gas emissions, industry smoke and smog etc. Well, here is scientific fact. Ozone is created by the heat and light of our Sun. In order for us to destroy ozone permanently we'd have to block out the Sun. As long as it burns hot in space we'll have ozone.

Courtesy NASA/TRACE
The real culprit in "global climate change" is the sun: Long-term studies document that fluctuations in the intensity of solar radiation are closely correlated with warming and cooling trends in the Earth's temperature. These facts are scrupulously ignored by those determined to use the "global warming" myth to destroy industrial civilization.

Another glaring scientific fact the members of "the sky is falling" crowd fail to realize is that we humans exist on a living and constantly changing planet. The Earth is not some dead lump of rock that spins in its orbit like the Moon. Our planet is in a constant state of flux. Forever turning itself inside out, adapting to changes on the surface etc. Did you know that we humans only occupy 2% of the planets surface? That's right...2%. Do we have so much gall that we honestly believe we can affect change on a global scale that is irreversible? Not quite. Sure we can affect the environment on a local scale by polluting rivers, streams, wetlands, deforesting etc. But on a global scale? C'mon, lets be real.

Think about this. What happens to human civilization when hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, wildfires happen in populated areas? Things get destroyed on a massive scale and people die. What power do we have to stop any of those? None. All we puny little humans can do is try to minimize the damage and loss of life through preparation and warnings. We are powerless compared the awesome power of this planet. Now take that in comparison to the doom sayers who say that every time we drive to the mini-mart in our gas powered vehicles, the Earth shudders at our thoughtlessness. The Earth, if it wanted to, could shake us off like a bad case of fleas and never miss us.

If there is one thing the Earth is, it's resilient to a fault. The accident at the Russian nuclear plant in Chernobyl spewed a toxic cloud into the air that roamed the planet. It took the Earth 7 years, just seven, to rid itself of it. We're talking nuclear clouds here! The eruption at Mt. St. Helens in 1980 spewed more toxins into the atmosphere in a couple of days than we have in 100 years of industrialization. And it took the Earth just 8 years to correct that imbalance. Predictions were 15 years but the Earth did it in eight. Not bad huh? If you cut down more trees than normal in one area of the planet, trees grow more dense in other parts of the globe. You see the Earth always seeks balance. It has done so for 3 billion years. With or without our interference.

I'm not saying we shouldn't recycle or try to do everything we can to minimize pollution and waste. Anything we can do to help the planet do what it does naturally is just smart. But to think we have some kind of power over the life and death of the Earth is just preposterous. People like Larry David and Al Gore are doing just what they accuse the Republicans of doing..."fear mongering".

My point here is that no matter what we throw at the Earth, it handles it just fine. The Earth has survived a lot worse than us measly humans in its history. It was here long before us and will be here long after us.