Monday, July 24, 2006

It's Getting Hot in Here

I'm not used to warm temperatures anymore; I've been back in the Northwest for too long. I've been keeping a thermometer just for kicks in my truck to see how warm it is. Mine won’t show temperatures over 50 C and this has been exceeded every day inside my cab. It’s weeks like this that make me wish I had air conditioning in my vehicle.

Facts on Global Warming that no credible scientist can deny:

Fact: Parts of the world have average temperatures that have been rising over the years.

Fact: Other parts of the world have average temperatures that have been falling over the years.

Fact: Some coastal areas have measured slightly higher sea levels than in the past.

Fact: Other coastal areas have seen slight decreases in sea levels over the years.

Fact: As an average, our planet is slightly warmer and the oceans slightly higher than they were 50 years ago.

What are the exact causes of these changes? There’s where the debate falls. Does the earth heat up and cool down on its own? Yes, we’ve had ice ages begin and end in the past. Do humans have any part in all of this current state of warming? Probably, but we would have a very hard time quantifying the affect. Do greenhouse gasses help warm things up? Most likely, everything from buses and power plants to volcanoes and cow farts all play their part. Would massively cutting human output of such gases do any good? Possibly, but I’d venture a guess that the planet is doing whatever it’s doing regardless of what we do, we may just be speeding up the process a little. Are we all going to die horrible deaths as a result of the planet getting warmer? That ozone hole thing hasn’t fried us yet, so I’d put my money on surviving this one too.

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