The Theory of Nothing

Is Global Warming real?

Is Global Warming real?

This question is highly debated on political grounds, not scientific fact. But, what are the facts about Global Warming, or as it’s euphemistically called: Global Climate Change? Is the overall temperature of the Earth rising? Most of the evidence for climate change is from secondary effects such as melting of the Artic ice, the increase in ocean heights, and changes in weather patterns. Trying to determine the overall temperature of the planet is difficult. If you use temperatures reported by weather forecasters, these temperatures are taken at places like airports that over the years have become surrounded by construction and roads, which absorb more heat. Some scientists prefer measuring the ocean temperatures, but these measurements were only made global in recent history. I doubt that anything reliable could come out of these types of measurements.

Let’s take each of the secondary clues separately. Is the Artic ice melting faster than it should or than it did in the past? The answer is yes; it is melting faster and not freezing over as quickly as previously. In fact, by the end of this century, the Artic Sea may be free of ice, especially in the summer. This alone would result in climate change. However, recent data indicates that ice in the Artic is on the increase, so who knows what’s going on. Surprisingly, Antarctic ice has been increasing. Global warming experts say that this would be expected. Al Gore said that the Artic ice would be gone by now, but he’s not a scientist. He’s a politician. The fact is that no one knows what’s really happening and what affect it will have on climate. Most of the predictions are done using computer modeling programs of questionable value. Observations over hundreds of years will be needed to predict change or even establish whether there is real change.

Sea level rise is around 3 mm per year and this trend is accelerating. What’s even more disturbing is that the melting of ice from the Artic, Antarctic and glaciers could accelerate this rise. The only thing I can say about this is that if you own sea front property, sell it and move back several miles and buy cheaper land. Then when the oceans rises, you’ll have valuable sea front property again. That’s a joke!

Change in weather patterns is a much more difficult way to determine if there is Global Warming. Yes, the oceans’ Ph (Acidity) is increasing, the coral reefs are dying off, some species of fish are becoming extinct, and some areas on Earth are experiencing persistent drought. But, these things have been occurring all along even when you go back millions of years. When Katrina struck, many climate scientists blamed it on Global Warming, but since then we’ve only seen one hurricane of note, Sandy, and it was a rare East coast hurricane. The fact is that New York has been struck by violent hurricanes in the past, but there weren’t that many people living there. The last killer hurricane to hit New York before Sandy was Edna in 1954.

If you look at the weather statistics, you’ll see that there hasn’t been that much of a change in weather patterns. We’ve had bad winters and bad storms like hurricanes and tornadoes all along. It’s the result of living on a planet with an atmosphere containing water moisture. You can always find somewhere on the Earth where there is bad weather, but for any given location, weather is pretty much average with occasional record breakers. Remember that records are made to be broken. As humans, we forget the bad things and want weather to be pleasant all of the time. That’s not going to happen.

I’m a scientist and I believe that the climate is changing, but that’s what it’s been doing for eons. The real question is: is climate change the result of human activity? Probably to a certain extent it is, according to the Butterfly Effect, but this is a product of Chaos theory that states that a small change in one system can cause a dramatic effect in a larger system. Scientists say that the percentage of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere has increased over the years since the Industrial Revolution due to burning fossil fuels. While this is true to a certain extent, carbon dioxide comes from many different sources, including breathing, and methane is an even more efficacious greenhouse gas. Methane is being introduced into the atmosphere from the tundra of Canada and Russia as it warms. This could lead to an even faster acceleration of global warming. Yikes!

I personally blame Global Warming on cow farts. Just kidding! Actually, there’s a provision for that in the new budget bill.

Thank for reading.