Global warming is natural occurrence

July 15, 2005

Spectrum/Budd Goodyear

Question: Is the earth's climate generally warming? Yes, it is.

Interestingly, several planets, maybe all planets in our solar system, are undergoing this change.

"Discover" magazine online reported that Pluto has warmed significantly since 1988. Astonishingly, Pluto has been moving away from the sun during this warming period.

The news office at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reporting on the same 2002 study, wrote that a team of astronomers from MIT, Williams College, the University of Hawaii, Lowell Observatory and Cornell University concluded Pluto is warming.

Current Science and Technology Center online reports that Mars is facing experiencing global warming, too. And the center adds, "If both Mars and Earth are experiencing global warming, then perhaps there is a larger phenomenon going on in the solar system that is causing their global climates to change."

Further agreement on Mars' warming comes from William Feldman of the Los Alamos National Laboratory: "One explanation could be that Mars is just coming out of an ice age," reported by Space.com.

How can human activity on earth cause global warming on other planets? The answer is simple. It can't. It can't cause global warming on earth, either.

Other explanations exist for climate change. A report in the Washington Times from a year ago stated, "The sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years and may now be affecting global temperatures."

The research was led by Sami Solanki, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany.

The Harvard Gazette reported in 2003 on research done by the Center for Astrophysics' research astrophysicist Sallie Baliunas and colleague Willie Soon. The research linked solar activity to global climate, "Sunspots and outbursts of solar activity effect long-term changes in terrestrial climate."

Well, how about greenhouse gases that get our current attention and money?

Just what is the highest concentration of any greenhouse gas? Water vapor, ordinary clouds, make up 95 percent of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Further, clouds are 99.9 percent caused by natural cycles.

The Clearlight Web site has published a series of graphs with references that point the finger to the false claim that man causes global warming.

Dr. Wallace Broecker, a leading world authority on climate at Columbia University, calls water vapor earth's most powerful greenhouse gas, and sees it as causing the major climate changes occurring today.

Quizzically, the U.S. Department of Energy does not include water vapor in its greenhouse gas charts. If it did, Americans everywhere would realize how big a sham human-caused global warming is. Ordinary clouds are 95 percent of the greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. It is readily apparent here in Alaska when cloudy winter days and nights are much warmer than clear winter days and nights.

The gas most blamed for global warming is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is less than 4 percent of the earth's greenhouse gas, less than 4 percent! Only one half of one percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is caused by human activity. Yet carbon dioxide is falsely blamed for global warming by sham science and organizations that make a living off emotional non-issues.

How did we get to where we pour billions of dollars into a problem we have very little ability to cause or fix? It is a combination of things.

First is the blame-humans-for-every-problem crowd. We also have the humans-with-big-egos crowd that believes humans can solve all problems.

Then there are the stagnant and politically correct universities, science and scientists who are just protecting their sources of revenue. Add to these the apathetic among us. We have members of society who are truly fearful and don't have the ability to see shams perpetrated by others. Joining all of these are the myopic, ignorant or corrupt politicians who play to the above groups for political power and give them our tax dollars to perpetuate the myth.

Finally, what effects does this sham have on our society? It appears to be a redistribution of wealth. Certainly the money handed out helps sustain the economy. Environmental groups raise money using the fraud. Scientists make a living off it. Some universities thrive off it. New technologies may be developed to control carbon dioxide gas because of it.

But to me, it's like buying a billion-dollar mousetrap to rid my home of mice it doesn't have.

Budd Goodyear is a retired 28-year resident of Southcentral Alaska. He has worked for newspapers and utilities. He had two master's degrees from Alaska Pacific University and a writing degree from Indiana University. He resides with his wife, Joy, in Village Park Estates.