Global Warming Madness Continues

As anyone that reads my blog (which most likely consists of Lori and me and very few others) you will know that I am not a big fan of all the global warming hype. In spirit of full disclosure, I do work for a large oil company so that does influence my thoughts on the issue. But, more than that, I am scientifically inclined and I am not prone to all the hype. Throughout modern history and I suspect that throughout all of human history there is a looming catastrophe that people get all excited about and the world’s sages predict will destroy mankind and then nothing comes of it. I would like to review a few of those predictions and then ask where they are now.

In the 1930’s all the way up through the 1960’s the looming disaster was the population explosion and the lack of food. There was talk of making synthetic food to stave off mass starvation. There was a movie made in 1973 called Soylent Green that was loosely based on the 1966 novella Make Room! Make Room! where there is mass starvation and they are making food from humans. There were all sorts of looming disasters that were predicted but when we look at what really happened we can see that the doomsayers were completely wrong. Not only do we not have mass starvation, in developed countries obesity is considered to be a major problem. The food shortages in today’s world are caused by politics, not over-population. Nobody is making synthetic food; they are converting corn to ethanol and using it as fuel. It appears that the experts missed that prediction by a mile.

In the 1970’s the looming disaster was “Global Cooling” and we were headed into another ice age. I am old enough to remember that one. It appears that the experts blew that prediction as well.

Another impending disaster that was predicted during the 1970’s is the world was going to run out of oil. I remember an advertisement on TV with a kid standing on the Statue of Liberty talking about conserving gasoline or there would not be any left for him when he was old enough to drive. I was freaked out about that and told my mom that she needed to quit driving so much and save some gasoline or there would not be any form me when I was old enough to drive. My mom had the good sense to recognize what was being said as propaganda and told me not to worry about it, it would be OK. There would be plenty of oil for me to be able to drive when I turned 16. My mom was right and the “expert” doomsayers were wrong again.

In the 1980’s and early 1990’s the biggest threat to mankind was the ominous “hole in the ozone layer.” We were all going to die of skin cancer due to the harmful UV radiation due to the hole in the ozone layer that was supposedly caused by the use of Freon. The terrible chloro-fluorocarbons (CFCs) were supposed to be the end of civilization. Do we hear anything about that now? I think that all the hype was because DuPonts patent on Freon was up and they had a bunch of more environmentally friendly, patentable refrigerants that they wanted to sell. In addition, the chemistry really did not make sense. Ozone is unstable and it reacts with just about everything, including CFCs. But CFCs are much heavier than air so I still do not understand how man-made CFCs enter the upper atmosphere. I think the hole in the ozone layer is much better explained by the seasons. Ozone is created by the sun’s energy (UV radiation) hitting the O2 (Oxygen) molecules in the atmosphere and breaking the bond into two O atom. These atoms are unstable and so they combine with a nearby O2 molecule to form an O3 (ozone) molecule. These reactions are going on continuously leaving a residual amount of ozone present in the upper atmosphere. If there is not any sunlight, there will not be any ozone. During the winter months the sun does not shine much at the poles of the earth and particularly in Antarctica where the hole in the ozone was discovered. During the winter when the sun is not shining in Antarctica, the hole in the ozone layer gets bigger because O2 is not being converted to O3. During the summer, when the sun is shining the hole in the ozone layer gets small again because the energy from the sun’s radiation is converting O2 to O3 again. I do not think that the hole in the ozone layer has anything to do with man’s activities, but all the hype has made DuPont a ton of money, which is why we do not hear about the hole anymore.

Global warming is just the latest in a long list of looming disasters that are being used for political gain. The BBC did a documentary call the Great Global Warming Swindle that does a good job of showing additional scientific data that Al Gore and company do not want anyone to know about. I have watched over the internet and I recommend that everyone see it. You can click here to see it on the internet but I would like to get a DVD with it. It is really good. You can go here to read a great article that summarizes the points that the film makes. Although some people would like you to believe that there is not dissent among the experts in regard to global warming, the fact is there is quite a bit of dissent. Just as in the past there were those that dissented from the vision of the future presented by the doomsayers, there are dissenters now and I expect that in 10-20 years when the global warming has not proven to be the disaster all these people are hoping it will be that they will find another impending disaster to beat us over the head with.

One way that the Global Warming Hypocrites like Al Gore are trying to ease their conscience and make some money in the process is by buying and selling carbon offsets. In this way the rich and famous can use their vast wealth to pay someone not to emit CO2 so they can live an energy extravagant life and still feel good about being green. They basically pay someone to not emit CO2 so they can. There is a great web site called Cheat Neutral that parodies this attitude that I think is great. I think that they are totally incorrect in their thoughts on the need to reduce CO2 emissions and living a carbon neutral lifestyle, but the parody on the CO2 trading is funny.