Global Warming Review

If you find yourself hearing on the TV or reading in the papers that global warming is causing something or other, here are some things to think about.

• this is a big planet and there are lots of places to take its temperature and the instruments used must be compared with the instruments used a century ago if one is to conclude that there has in fact been a one degree temperature rise in that 100 years.
• if you conclude that scientists have indeed succeeded in accurately making that measurement, you must now decide whether that rise is the cause or whether or not the rise and fall of ice sheaths over the millenia might suggest that there are natural forces at work which do not have anything to do with human activity
• the hypothesis is that man's activity has produced CO2 which absorbs heat and thus if man has caused the problem, man should be able to reverse it by not allowing so much CO2 to be released into the atmosphere. This is offered widely by the press, various politicians, and scientists. As a layperson, who did not actually make the measurements, you must rely on the claim that CO2 has increased in the last 100 years from 0.028% to 0.036% .
  
• once you accept that claim you must face the numerous claims that global warming is responsible for such things as a recent claim that it is responsible for such things as frog deaths observed somewhere, hurricanes, too much snow, too little rain, etc., etc.

So, we have a model (increased CO2 makes the earth hotter) supported by dubious measurements being advanced to support the idea that governments should sacrifice economic growth to comply with hypothesized effects from this model. Lots of people accept that for the most part because they can't believe all those magazines, papers, politicians, and scientists would be concerned if there weren't something substantial behind the concern. I say poppycock (maybe even something stronger), but anyone is free to join those renowned scientists Al Gore and Bill Clinton who say global warming is the greatest threat to mankind.