"Hot Air" is a recurring title here at Montag's World. Usually, it is applied to the subject of Global Warming. I want to stress that I am a big believer in Global Warming. I am also a big believer in Global Cooling. In fact, I am a big believer in Montag's Immutable Law of Nature No. 5: "The only thing about the climate and the weather that stays the same is that it just keeps changing."Generally speaking, when one uses the phrase "Global Warming", we are not talking about an Indian summer or a heat wave. Nor are we talking about natural fluctuations in the Earth's average temperature. No, it has been drummed into our heads that "Global Warming" -- always capitalized, never lower case -- refers to Man-made Global Warming.
My problem is with that man-made part. You see, I just can't see how we are changing the environment to any great degree. Nor do I understand how Al Gore and Arnold Scharzeneggar can claim that any changes we make are all that bad. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that Modern Environmentalism has become the new home of the Marxist Left. Follow along with me here, folks! You'll understand as we go along.
Author's note: I receive no money from oil companies, nor am I in the pay of anyone funded by the oil companies. The conclusions of this column are totally and exclusively my own!
I decided this evening to write this column when I was going through my e-mail. My good friend, Bill, from Colorado sent me a link to a Global Warming Test. Well, I took the test, and guess what? I got every answer right. Now I don't agree with anything Al Gore has to say about the climate, other than that the Earth has gotten a little over half a degree warmer in the last 100 years. But I'll bet that Al Gore would have gotten only one or two of these questions right.
Why am I so skeptical about Man's part in climate change? Well, there are several reasons. First and foremost is a bit of humility. I'm not talking about personal humility, but humility about Man's place on this Earth. You see, I just don't think we're all that big enough to really harm our world. In fact, if we are making any changes at all, then we are no different than any other species that has ever evolved.
For example, there's a composite photo of the Earth floating around the Internet, that shows the Earth at night from the point of view of someone in space. The continents and the oceans are all marked out with the lights of Man's cities. But there's one thing that struck me: never mind the oceans, which cover 75% of the Earth's surface. most of the dry land is absolutely dark! That's right, the vast majority of the Earth's surface has no lights from human activities. So what does that mean? Well, usually, where there are no or very few people, there are no lights to be seen from space. What the Paul Erlich's of the world call over population is really just a matter of everybody wanting to live in just a few places.
It has been demonstrated mathematically that, if you really wanted, you could split the entire population of the Earth into groups of four people, give each group of four a house on a quarter acre of land, and then fit them all into the State of Texas, without going off the dry land area. Now, no one is suggesting that this would be a good idea, but it does put things a bit into perspective, doesn't it?
Get ready to shake the wrinkles out of your brain: Name one species that evolved on Earth that didn't change the environment, did not wipe out some other species, and did not make new homes for new species that evolved with the changes that weren't madeby that first species.
Try Google or some other search engine and get back to me. If you can't find the answer to this question, that's only because there hasn't been a species that appeared on Earth that didn't change the environment, didn't wipe out other species and didn't make new homes for new species. It is call evolution and it's happening all the time. Get used to it!
The point is, there is no difference between our hypothetical species and us. We've had some impact on our environment, we've wiped out some other species. But we've also made homes for other species. Take the common house fly. It first appeared in Africa, millions of years ago. But it never left Africa, until humans took it with them. Now, it thrives everywhere. That's just one example. You could find many, many others.
Is a warmer Globe all that bad? Well, let's look at history: 1000 years ago, the Vikings found a place that had plants growing all over it. In fact, it had so many plants that they named it Greenland. At this time, vineyards were growing all over England and Scotland, places that hadn't seen them before, and which don't have them today. But 1000 years ago, there were streets and towns named for these vineyards, names they still hold today. Historical documents from the time tell a story of relatively easy living, with little famine and much higher living standards.
By the way, the polar bears did just fine, thank you, during these warmer years. I know you'd be concerned.
Just a few hundred years later, we entered into what we today call the Little Ice Age. Suddenly, things got really tough for people. The Vikings lost their colonies on Greenland and Newfoundland, due to sea ice that didn't melt in the summer. In Europe, those who didn't learn to grow potatoes and other cold resistant crops simply starved. Beer and hard liquor replaced wine in northern areas, since grapes would only grow in Southern Europe. George Washington wintered at Valley Forge during the Little Ice Age, daring a frozen Delaware River to attack the Hussein troops on the other side.
The Little Ice Age didn't end until the early years of the 19th Century. Is it any wonder that the Earth's temperature is still rising? We haven't gotten back to the heights of the Greenland days.
What about all our greenhouse gases? Aren't they helping to warm the planet? In a word, no. One volcanic eruption spews out more greenhouse gases than all of human activity throughout the past. And just how many erputions occur each and every year? Once, I would have said twenty or thirty. But then I learned differently. Just visit Prof. Robert W. Felix's web site, Not By Fire But By Ice. This is just one of the places that, apparently, Al Gore has never heard of. For instance, did you know that snowfall in Antarctica has doubled over the last 150 years? Or that Global Warming is going on right now on Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Triton, Saturn, and Pluto? And what are we to make of the palm trees in China, right now, that are covered in snow? Oh, yeah! did you know that there are some 3 million active volcanoes on the ocean floor? Could that be, maybe, just maybe, what is warming the oceans?
Al Gore refuses to debate anyone who might take an opposing view towards Global Warming. "The science is settled," he says. "There is a clear consensus that Global Warming is happening and that it is man-made." Well, then, perhaps Al should take a look at the list of scientists Prof. Felix has compiled who beg to differ. I'm sure that not all of them are in the pay of Big Oil.
John Stossel, of ABC News did a report on the skeptics. The BBC did a full documentary entitled "The Great Global Warming Hoax. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find an extant copy of this piece online, however, the link will get you to the BBC's page about the film.
OK! So maybe the science isn't really all in on Global Warming, and maybe humans aren't the cause. But how do I make the link between Global Warming and Marxism? Well, let's look at the proposed solutions to the threat of Global Warming:
- Al Gore tells us -- from his private jets, huge mansions, and lengthy limosines -- to cut back on everything we use, most especially electricity and oil. He's so serious that he took mass transit to his Nobel Prize Award ceremony. Of course, his luggage went by limo, but it's a start.
- Bill Clinton: "We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions 'cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren."
- The Herald Tribune headline: California Wants To Control Home Thermostats
Well, that's today's look at Hot Air. And that's enought hot air out of me. I'll revisit the topic from time to time.
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