IF WE HAVE TO FACE BEING EITHER HOT OR COLD
(….I’d prefer to just be – lukewarm – instead)

I just had my first “confrontational” exchange for the new year with a couple of global warming “evangelicals”. I call them such because for them the subject has to be a matter of –faith- with no room for critical analysis or doubts about it. So, they continue to “evangelize” all over the globe trying to stampede everyone towards drastic and misdirected measures to halt global warming.

My problem with such folks is that they seem to deliberately ignore anything and everything that might refute or create doubts in their mindset concerning their conviction and credo that, we humans are the sole and only cause of global warming. By their lights anyone who dares to even question that is guilty of rank heresy, and worthy of being burnt at the stake!

Such are the workings of small minds.

In this instance, our discussion about the subject began calmly and rationally enough, but I soon discovered, yet again, you not only can get such “evangelical” folks really sputtering and fuming, but also looking at you as if you had cut loose with an extremely foul smelling gastro-intestinal “emission”….just by asking a few simple questions, such as

  • Do you believe that if we stopped all emissions of any kind, tomorrow, global warming would either slow down or come to a complete halt?
  • How many global warming cycles has the Earth had in the last million years?
  • Do you believe that the theories of leading scientists such as H.H. Lamb, or Milankovitch, are a correct explanation for such cycles?
  • Do you think the human contribution to these warming effects is marginal, and caused more by our numbers (seven billion and counting) rather than just from our activities and burning of fossil fuels?

Ask any of these questions and that will drive such evangelical folks absolutely….nuts! And, since such questions create doubts and uncertainties in their dearly held beliefs on the subject, their reactions tend towards outrage, and even downright hostility (so be prepared if you do so).

H.H. Lamb was one of the world’s leading climatologists, and his studies and research clearly proved the cyclical nature driving climate change. He showed that there had been numerous cycles where the Earth cooled by 2-3 degrees Celsius below present day temperatures, and also, had had multiple warming cycles of 3-5 degrees Celsius above present era temperatures, along with corresponding rise and fall of ocean levels by 300-600 feet above and below present day levels. All of that long before humans were making any contribution of any kind to those cycles.

Milankovitch, showed that there were three primary drivers to these warming and cooling cycles. That is:

a) The Earth’s orbital drift from a circular one around the sun to a more oval one, with the time frame for a complete cycle of some 100,000 years out and back.

b) The Earth’s axial tilt from near vertical to some 2.5-3 degrees declination from that, with the time frame for a complete cycle of some 22,000 years out and back

c) The Earth’s rotational “wobble”, much like a toy top, with a time frame for a complete cycle of some 51,000 years.

The combined effect of all these being that, for half of those cycles, the Earth progressively received less of the sun’s light and warmth, thus cooling. And for the other half, progressively receiving more of the sun’s light and warmth, thus warming. These cycles are what we call the glacial and interglacial periods of the Earth’s geological history.

So, yes, there is global warming, and yes, we humans, today, do contribute to the situation, mostly by our numbers not just our activities, but, we are not the sole cause of it. Taking rational and properly thought out measures to reduce the human contribution to these effects, is fine, but let’s not con ourselves into the misguided notion that only our actions can change the impacts of these cycles. They can’t and they won’t. Mother Nature is too tough an old broad to allow it.

As for me, if we have to face being either hot or cold….I’d prefer to just be –lukewarm – instead!

CENTURION