Over the past five years, I have heard it said time and again, as gospel, that we are experiencing a period of global warming. Furthermore, it is said that the earth is warming because human activity has released "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere which prevents the heat from escaping into outer space. Now, people are saying that the gulf stream is slowing down and there are now more hurricanes as a result of global warming.
Despite the gospel that is global warming, where is the proof that we can do anything about it?
It seems just as logical to me that the earth is warming as a result of the fact that our environmental regulations have decreased the amount of particulates in the air than it is a result of "greenhouse gases". The amount of particulates in the air can have an effect on the earth's temperature. For example, after Krakatoa exploded in the late 19th century, the volcano expelled so much ash and other material, that the earth's temperature decreased by a degree or two for a year thereafter. When the particulates settled, the earth's temperature went back up. It seems logical that when people switched from coal burning stoves in the early 20th Century to natural gas as the century wore on, the amount of particulates in the air went down as well. Therefore the temperature of the earth went back up a bit.
Of course this is all wild, uninformed speculation, but so are the current theories of global warming and hurricanes caused by greenhouse gases. It is time for people to question the orthodoxy on global warming before the orthodoxy forces us into stupid decisions (see: Kyoto Protocols).
It actually seems MORE logical to me that the earth is warming up all on its own as it has numerous times over the past 4 billion years. After the last Ice Age, the polar ice caps retreated thousands of miles, thousands of years before smokestacks were ever invented. What's to say that they earth isn't still in the midst of a retreating Ice Age?
Matthew (the king of wild, uninformed speculation).
UPDATE: It seems that one of our esteemed neighbors to the North has a similar take on the "enviro-myth" that is Global Warming: Check out the North American Patriot
