On Global Warming

Over the past three decades or over the past hundred years, it’s well accepted that the Earth has gotten warmer – at least by measurable amounts. It’s also well accepted, but not often acknowledged that over the course of the Earth’s history, it has been a lot hotter and a lot colder. Well, this article about polar bear populations in Canada suggest that the warming isn’t as bad as many have claimed. Last year’s tropical storm season also attests to this.
Now, I’m something of an environmentalist myself and an avid reader of The Treehugger. I highly recommend Treehugger as a resource for radical and reasonable environmentalists. And yes, it is possible to be both.
And now I get to the point of this post. Global warming has been called THE defining issue of our generation worldwide. Now natural climate change is well, natural, so it’s really Man Made Global Warming that is of concern, and these days, it’s our release of CO₂ or carbon dioxide that catches all the blame. (I wonder if the politicos and environmental pundits keep saying CO₂ for fear that people will figure out that carbon dioxide is the same stuff that we and every other animal creates each time we breathe.) I believe a reasonable view of this can go anywhere from man’s effect on global temperature is negligible to man’s effect on global temperature could cause “catastrophic” change over the next two centuries. I’ll briefly note that Gore’s claims of near-instant catastrophic climate change does not fall within that range of reasonable. Personally, I’m in the negligible to insignificant category. This excellent global warming video says normal solar patterns are the cause of global temperature change and this article on planetary warming supports the video’s claims.
Now that we’ve dispelled any unfounded, sensationalist theories about carbon dioxide, can we focus on some real issues like that scum floating on top of the Potomac?