Global warming: elusive, economically problematic for American taxpayers
By: Jake Brereton
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Opinion
A recent BBC News article headline read "What happened to global warming?"
That's a good question.
As temperatures around the globe continue to drop, so does the public's concern with the issue. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that only 57 percent of Americans believe there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, and only 36 percent believe this warming is being caused by man-made activities, down from 77 percent and 47 percent, respectively, in 2007.
In July 2008, a prominent Australian scientist resigned, concluding that even after six years of focused research and $50 billion, he found no evidence that carbon dioxide was causing global warming. Later that year, over 31,000 U.S. scientists signed a petition publicly rejecting the global warming theory.
This January, 700 scientists around the globe delivered a 255-page report to the Senate challenging the existence of man-made global warming. Some NASA reports have even suggested that a cycle of global cooling is beginning.
Despite the evidence piling up against the theory of man-made global warming, climate alarmists seem more intent than ever on forcing enormous pieces of climate legislation like the Waxman-Markey bill. This bill is estimated to cause gross domestic product losses of $9.4 trillion, raise an average family's energy bill $1,241 and eliminate 1,145,000 jobs by 2035.
While the absurdity of forcing a costly bill through Congress on false pretenses speaks for itself, what is most disturbing about the scare over global warming and Washington's reaction to it is that all of this paranoia has yet to be supported by any scientific evidence.
When the theory of global warming was first introduced, there was reason to believe there could be a connection between rising temperatures throughout the 1990s and increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, an inconvenient truth for many climate alarmists is that the hottest year of the 1990s was 1998. Since then, temperatures have been steadily dropping as part of the Earth's natural cycle of heating and cooling.
That's a good question.
As temperatures around the globe continue to drop, so does the public's concern with the issue. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that only 57 percent of Americans believe there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, and only 36 percent believe this warming is being caused by man-made activities, down from 77 percent and 47 percent, respectively, in 2007.
In July 2008, a prominent Australian scientist resigned, concluding that even after six years of focused research and $50 billion, he found no evidence that carbon dioxide was causing global warming. Later that year, over 31,000 U.S. scientists signed a petition publicly rejecting the global warming theory.
This January, 700 scientists around the globe delivered a 255-page report to the Senate challenging the existence of man-made global warming. Some NASA reports have even suggested that a cycle of global cooling is beginning.
Despite the evidence piling up against the theory of man-made global warming, climate alarmists seem more intent than ever on forcing enormous pieces of climate legislation like the Waxman-Markey bill. This bill is estimated to cause gross domestic product losses of $9.4 trillion, raise an average family's energy bill $1,241 and eliminate 1,145,000 jobs by 2035.
While the absurdity of forcing a costly bill through Congress on false pretenses speaks for itself, what is most disturbing about the scare over global warming and Washington's reaction to it is that all of this paranoia has yet to be supported by any scientific evidence.
When the theory of global warming was first introduced, there was reason to believe there could be a connection between rising temperatures throughout the 1990s and increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, an inconvenient truth for many climate alarmists is that the hottest year of the 1990s was 1998. Since then, temperatures have been steadily dropping as part of the Earth's natural cycle of heating and cooling.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
Troy
posted 11/17/09 @ 9:19 AM EST
Everything makes sense here. Please check out http://www.iceagenow.com I laughed at this site at first, but take a look at some of the information there. (Continued…)
Dave
posted 11/17/09 @ 10:54 AM EST
The most interesting finding in the Pew Research Center poll (full results at http://people-press.org/report/556/global-warming) is that belief in human-caused global warming among Republicans has declined from 62% to 35% since 2007. (Continued…)
jim
posted 11/17/09 @ 12:28 PM EST
a poor peace of journalism indeed. Even if you believe the right-wing rhetoric that you've posted here (which you obviously do), proper journalism requires that you at least mention both sides of the argument. (Continued…)
Lloyd Heldt
posted 11/20/09 @ 10:10 PM EST
The fact that your article on climate change appeared in The DePauw is very encouraging to this alumnus.
Thank you for your work.
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