Global Warming: An issue for all seasons
By Miguel Guanipa (09/02/06)
For those of you who have not yet been walloped by a tree hugger with the full transcript of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, Global Warming is heating the earth’s surface.
As you may have noticed, this phenomenon - which allegedly could someday have cataclysmic consequences absent any mitigating actions in our part - has tempted many a scientist to don the coveted mantle of prophet from time to time. But who can blame them. If you were given the opportunity to be among the few enlightened souls who has been entrusted with the solemn duty to warn humanity of an impending catastrophe of biblical proportions, what would you do?
There is however some difficulty in retaining the undivided attention of the public on this issue. This is partly due to the fact that these announcements are often followed by publicity hungry politicians who almost overnight become members of the scientific elite. Invariably it is the American experience that whenever a scientific issue enters the realm of politics credibility is compromised and “truth” becomes the exclusive commodity of the faction with the loudest megaphone.
Nevertheless, given the environmentally conscious age we live in, an issue like Global Warming can easily produce a ready harvest of willing philanthropists and activists filled with the kind of zeal we often associate with jihadists; hence the preponderance of worse case scenarios, all of which are taken from disputably illusory computer atmospheric Models.
These scenarios vary from trends showing that both poles will have melted by the year 2050 due to the alarming rate of glacial retreat, to a pandemic somewhere in the equatorial margin resulting in the death of Juan Valdez (something scientists remind us has already happened) and a high percentage of amphibians that many of us consider too icky to have as pets anyway.
I have my own personal reasons why I am somewhat skeptical about the Doomsday predictions coming from the scientific block as of late, and the train of political scavengers that follows.
The first one is the air of absolute certainty with which people like Al Gore make proclamations about this so called “indisputable fact” for which “there is no longer a debate”, save among those he derides as “stooges of the fossil-fuel industry”. Unfortunately many of these “stooges” comprise a sizeable number of highly respected scientists and experts in the field of global climate who have no ax to grind against the man who used to be the next president of the United States.
Such a level of doctrinal inerrancy simply does not belong to the field of science or politics, even if you really are the inventor of the internet.
A refusal to accept the many uncertainties that are associated with this relatively new science, namely the insufficient understanding of how other factors may affect Global Warming trends such as climactic variations, the changes in the sun’s energy ,the cooling effect of artificial pollutants, and yes, even an increase in ruminating flatulent animals, smacks of a type of intolerance which borders on proselytizing; personally I don’t mind being indoctrinated but it’s not very nice to call people names.
Notwithstanding, Global Warming has also been linked to what is more than likely a cyclical natural phenomenon. On a side note, there are presently no conclusive reports on the associated risks presented by the Latino population who according to the latest statistics are the world’s biggest consumers of rice and beans.
Which leads me to this final conclusion: We’re doomed no matter what approach we take to the Global Warming problem. Therefore, until maximum entropy runs its course, get some cold lemonade and sun glasses and enjoy it while you can.
In the meantime, a little more charity toward those who are in the opposition is in order until more conclusive evidence is collected. Sometime around the 23rd century or so may be a more appropriate time to evaluate the data gathered in this type of research which is literary in its pioneer stages, and gage the elusive causes and effects of this mysterious climate altering phenomenon, which some who are a lot smarter than I am have already relegated to the realm of junk science.
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