It’s a Slow News Day
Arranged, typed, collected, but not written by: Gen1900
(At times I put my own spin on it)
Yesterday I was watching TV, the ABC news in fact, when another story about Prince Harry and his fiance popped up. I thought to myself, “Again?! This was on last night, and again this morning!” The news reporters tried to make me care about the engagement, but quite frankly, I want important stories and not entertainment. What on earth does this have to do with global warming? Well, global warming is just like that news article; it does not deserve coverage. The only reason it is a story is because it’s a slow . . . news day. There are no more continents, new planets, or giant sea monsters to be found, so attention-loving scientists have publicized the issue of global warming. I am not saying global warming is not happening, but I am saying we humans are not responsible for it and it is NOT a catastrophic problem. We do not contribute emissions into the air, but that is a miniscule amount compared to other natural sources. Even if we wanted to further lower our release of greenhouse gases, it would be a serious mismanagement of priorities. The way we are approaching and planning to approach the global warming problem is completely backwards and wrong.
The Earth is an ancient complicated machine that we humans will probably never completely understand. Even with our big fancy computers and satellites, scientists have no real answer to how much of an effect greenhouse gases have on Earth’s overall temperature. We are, however, led to believe by these same computers that doomsday is approaching. The Earth will get hotter and hotter, the sea levels will rise and we will all drown; storms will be more numerous and severe; ice sheets will melt completely; all living organisms and humans will all die for the extinction of vegetation. Do we really see this happening though? No, we do not. Environmentalists claim that the Earth’s temperature has risen one degree Celsius in the last 100 years (Weisbrot). Guess what, it is still 20 times cooler than it was in the 18th century (Robinson). For example, many people who talk about global warming discuss the fact that in the area of the world, the winters have been unusually warm over the past few years. Thus, they say, global warming must be happening. This, of course, neglects the fact that the entire world is often quite different from one person’s little corner of it. While one area of the world might be experiencing unusually warm winters. another part of the world might be experiencing unusually cool summers. As a result, the global temperature does not change very much, despite what might be happening in one region of it (Dr. Wile).
These same “scientists” claim that sea levels will rise by 50 cm by 2100 (Bjorn), but they seem to have forgotten that they have 10-25 cm just in the twentieth century alone (Bjorn). Did anyone notice this rise? Were the beaches of Miami and San Diego abandoned in fear of the rising sea level? No, they were not. But wait, scientists allege storms destroyed beaches, and those were caused by global warming. Admittedly, there have been super-storms like Katrina, but these storms are just part of Earth’s natural cycle. Again the environmentalists do not mention the fact that the weather is so complicated that it is impossible to know whether global warming is the cause.
How about the extinction of plants and natural fuel? Hotter weather means fewer plants right? Wrong, again. Plants have adapted for thousands of years to their environments; a single degree in temperature change is nothing for them. In fact, carbon dioxide is great for plants-they need it. The more carbon there is, the better plants do. A team of Harvard University(Wile) reviewed over 240 scientificantly warmer weather between the 9th and 14th centuries than it is today. As a result, it is awfully hard to believe that modern burning of fuels is leading to any kind of global warming, as people did not burn nearly as much fuel in the Middle Ages as they do now!(Wile) Forgetting facts that contradict their own opinions is a common strategy for these environmentalists, but who exactly are they?
These people are scientists with too much time on their hands. Instead of discovering new ways of producing energy, they find ways of scaring the general public so it will listen to them. Thirty years ago, these same people claimed that the world would freeze over. No one listened, so they changed their official position and said it was heating up. Then they put some models into the computer along with some faulty data. The computer predicted catastrophe. Preying on the public’s trust in the new age of the computer, they then submitted these phony results as facts. They claimed we were adding too much carbon dioxide into the air.
Humans are not the only ones to add carbon into the air. Every living thing contains carbon, and once it dies it will release carbon. Humans are responsible for only 3.255% percent of carbon dioxide emissions(Singer), and the rest of the 96.775% is caused by natural factors. There is absolutely nothing that we can do about that 97 percent, but we can reduce our contributions. In 1998, the Kyoto Protocol’s signing began. Asking for countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by twenty-five percent, it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars per year(West). Wisely, the United States opted not to sign it. In fact, the Senate voted 95 to 0 against it and said that signing it “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States”(West). The United States would not be the only country to suffer. Civilized countries all over the world would have colossal numbers of blackouts. Countries would return to the Dark Ages. No more manufacturing, no more big cities, and in brief, no more advancing technology for the human race. Even if every single country were to obey the Kyoto Protocol, we would only reduce carbon emissions by 0.0035%. In short, abiding by the Kyoto Protocol would require spending TRILLIONS of dollars and result in the unnoticeable change of future temperatures. We could instead use that money on the real problems of our generation: AIDS, education, and our own social programs. Spending money on the global warming problem is a complete waste of money.
Global warming is a problem that we neither created nor can fix. It is just part of Earth’s natural cycles. Yes, we should exercise good stewardship over the earth’s resources. No, we should not worry that we will burn, freeze, or drown. It is time to stop the hype and go look for another source of news on those slow news days. Though I hate to admit it, maybe we should pay more attention to Prince Harry and his fiance, Meghan M.
Works Cited
Bjorn, Lomborg. “Kyoto Protocol Misplaced Priorities.” The Jakarta Post. 15 Feb. 2005. Web. 2 Dec. 2006. <http://yaleglobal. yale edu/display.article? id=5280>
Robinson, Arthur. “Petition Project.” Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. 1998. Web. 2 Dec. 2006. <http://www.sitewave.net /pproject/s33p36. htm>
Singer, Fred. “Water Vapor Rules the Greenhouse System.” 10 Sep. 2001. Web. 2 Dec. 2006. <http://www.clearlight.com/~mhieb/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html>
Weisbrot, Chris. “How Real Is Global Warming?” Web.2 Dec. 2006 >http://ww.thehcf.org/emaila 1.html>
West, Larry. “Should the U.S. Ratify the Kyoto Protocol?” About.com Environmental Issues. Web. 2 Dec. 2006. <http://environment.about.com/od/kyotoprotocol/i/kyotoprotocol.htm>
Wile, Dr.Jay L. “Physical Science, 2nd Edition:Global Warming.” April 2010. Web. Jan. 10. 2018. <http://www.apologia.com
Gen1900’s Note
I know there’ll be plenty of comments on this work and probably not nice ones. I choose to ignore responding to the fiery words for I believe in what is true. I will read them though, however, they won’t change my opinion. That’s all that matters is seeing the truth. There are plenty of important issues out in the United States, but global warming shouldn’t be one of them. Saving the homeless, aborted babies, wounded veterans, and stopping hunger(etc.) should be high on the list . . . global warming . . . the bottom . . . the very bottom.
General
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First and foremost, I appreciate your want to share your opinion. It takes guts to have an opinion outside of the norm. So, thank you for doing so.
Secondly, the sources provided reinforces the point of your piece. The data used adds credibility to your voice — and the fact it is used properly further cements your point.
Suggestion:
Break the body into smaller paragraphs. By doing so, your readers will be more willing to digest the entire piece without skipping.
We may have different opinions, but I respect your ability to not shame to bits the other side.
Keep up the good work!
Michelle R.
Thanks. I know I said I wasn’t suppose to answer these but thank you very much!