Environment
2008-12-31 10:43:00
Environmental weenie?
QUESTION: “Am I an “environmental weenie?”
ANSWER: Continuing from last month’s question regarding the environment and the facts or myths about global warming, I’m going to give you some things to think about that I’ve learned from doing some research on the subject. I don’t tend to take a side, one way or the other on this matter, and believe that there are some points made by both sides that merit some attention. I also believe what I said last month… that your furnace and hot water tank, which definitely have carbon monoxide emissions, can absolutely kill you and your family if you’re not paying attention to them. Be very aware of that, no matter what you believe about “global warming”.
A widely read and respected doctor/scientist was recently published as saying that “if you’re staying up nights worrying about your carbon footprint, or how climate change is leaving polar bears adrift at sea, I’ve got the best advice you’ve heard in a while - get some sleep!”
He went on to say that “Al Gore and his “global warming flunkies” have half the world brainwashed into thinking our ice caps are melting, our seas are on the verge of boiling, and that everywhere from Miami to Juneau, Alaska is about to be ravaged by tropical diseases from malaria to Dengue Fever. “Well, I’ve studied the science,” he said, and “I’ve got an ‘inconvenient truth’ for Gore and company! The only hot air that’s threatening the planet is coming out of their mouths.” You might say that’s harsh! He also believes that global warming has benefited from one of the greatest public relations and marketing efforts in recent history. You’ll hear plenty from environmentalists about carbon emissions, clean energy, and the disappearing arctic, but here’s what you will never hear them admit. Scientists have reaped MILLIONS from their global warming “research”, funded by very generous government grants! They’ve turned supporting global warming, despite what the science really says, into a cash cow!
In fact, these same scientists were trying to convince us the world was cooling just a few decades ago, when that’s where the grant money was at that time. There’s plenty of bad science and good marketing surrounding the global warming debate, but there are thousands of scientists who are not profiting from the obvious hysteria surrounding this debate, and I’ll try to give you the information on the side supporting the global myth theory in this article.
These scientists say that global warming is caused by many things. The causes are split up into two groups, man-made or anthropogenic causes, and natural causes.
Natural causes are causes created by nature. One natural cause is a release of methane gas from arctic tundra and wetlands. Methane is a greenhouse gas. A greenhouse gas is a gas that traps heat in the earth’s atmosphere. Another natural cause is that the earth goes through a cycle of climate change. This climate change usually lasts about 40,000 years. Erupting volcanoes are another source of natural global warming. These things in nature have been happening since long before man came along. That cyclical nature of climate change is considered ongoing by a huge body of very well respected scientists around the world.
Man-made causes probably do the most damage, according to some. There are many man-made causes that are acknowledged to “contribute” to some of the global warming that’s happening. Pollution is one of the biggest man-made problems. Pollution comes in many shapes and sizes. Burning fossil fuels is one thing that causes pollution. Fossil fuels are fuels made of organic matter such as coal, or oil. When fossil fuels are burned they give off a green house gas called CO2, more commonly known as carbon monoxide. Also, mining coal and drilling for oil allows methane gases to escape. How does it escape? Methane is naturally found in the ground. When coal is mined or oil is drilled, you have to dig up the earth a little. When you dig up those fossil fuels, you dig up the methane as well. Heating homes, factories, offices, and other places with these fossil fuels do distribute carbon dioxide into the air, and common sense will tell you that this has to be adding to the polluting of the atmosphere to a certain degree. That’s why we encourage folks to get those older heating units replaced with the new high efficiency units as soon as possible. If everyone did that, it would be a huge step in helping out the environment to the extent that you or I can make a contribution that’s meaningful.
Another major man-made cause of global warming is population growth. More people necessarily means more food requirements, and more methods of transportation for that food as well. That means more methane gas because there will be more burning of fossil fuels by the trucks, tractors and railroads, and more agricultural activity. You’re probably thinking, “Wait a minute, you said agriculture is going to be damaged by global warming, but now you’re saying agriculture is going to help cause global warming?” Well, have you ever been in a barn filled with animals, and you smell something that doesn’t really smell that good? What you are smelling is methane gas, and the major source of that methane gas is the manure. Because more food is needed for these additional animals and people, we have to raise more food in the agricultural community. Animals such as cows, hogs, and sheep are sources of food, so we raise the livestock for food, which means more manure and methane gases are created.
Another problem with the increasing population is transportation. More people also mean more cars and trucks, and more cars and trucks mean more exhaust pollution. Also, we can consider that many people have more than one car or truck, doubling or tripling their exhaust emissions. So, it’s easy to see that there are things that man does do that contribute to the pollution in the atmosphere, but it is believed by a large group of scientists who study this matter that man’s contribution to global warming is rather limited when it’s compared to the things in nature that we have no control over.
Since it’s acknowledged that CO2 contributes to global warming, the continuing increases in population make the problem worse, because when we exhale, we breathe out CO2. So, it’s oxygen in, and CO2 out. The trees that convert our atmospheric CO2 to oxygen are being demolished because we’re using the land that we cut the trees down from as property for our homes and buildings. Some believe that we are not replacing the trees rapidly enough, compared to our cutting of the trees (an important part of our eco system) for our needs, so we are constantly taking advantage of our natural resources and giving not enough back in return.
Both sides of this global warming issue seem to have some valid points of view. Sometimes I wonder how quickly this and other situations would lose their appeal if the government funding grants were to dry up. Now that I think about it, getting a government grant for several million dollars to go study something sounds kind of good on these 8 degree days we’ve been having lately. Where is that global warming here in Kansas when you really need it? Some information was researched on the World wide web… More next month…
