Hottest in 400 years, at least


The the nation's premier science policy body TODAY voiced a "high level of confidence" that Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, and possibly even the last 2,000 years.




Despite continued evidence and scientific consensus, people continue to disparage the facts. The one I read most is something along the lines of "The earth is 3 billion years old--we only have climate data for the last 2,000 years. Recent warming could be within natural climate variation that exists in a cycle too long for us to have seen before."

Read more to see my answer to that 'argument'.

But first, another question: How long have humans been on the earth during the 3-4 billion years the earth has existed, and why should we give a flying F about the climate that existed prior to the evolution of primates, or even of modern westernized civilization? Don’t you think we should be concentrating on the climate as it has existed for the last few HUNDRED years? You know, the climate norms on which all modern agriculture, fishing, and other economic activities are based? In what meaningful way could it matter to us NOW that it was probably really warm during the time of the dinosaurs? It isn’t germane to the discussion.

The SCIENTIFIC METHOD points to global temperatures rising more quickly now than at any time in the last 400-1000 years, a rise at least IN PART due to human activities. EVEN IF the sun’s ‘natural cycles’ are also to blame, does that mean we should throw up our hands and say "Whew, we're not to blame! Good thing, I'd hate to have to feel bad about that!"?

This argument is akin to saying it'd be OK to stare dumbly into the hunters' sights, as did the dodo, prior to its extinction. After all, dodos didn't take any particular action that resulted in people killing them. Since the dodos weren't to blame, they can be excused for not taking any action that might have prevented them all from dying, right?

We know that C02 is multiplying the effects of solar radiation many times over, so even if you think the main culprit of global warming is solar warming, we should STILL do all we can do to stem CO2 emissions. I hope that, as a culture, we're smarter than dodos.

Posted: Thu - June 22, 2006 at 03:18 PM          

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