We live in an age of global warming, of that there is no doubt.
However, the primary cause of this phenomenon is very much in
doubt, as this well researched and reasoned article points out. The
common misperception is that increasing temperatures is due
primarily to the burning of fossil fuels in industrialized nations.
However, the little known fact is that only 6% of global warming is
actually due to such activity. The simple fact is that temperatures
fluctuate up and down and always have and always will. This is
more a background process we have to accept and live with. It is no
doubt unfortunate that our industrialized societies are adding to
this problem, but their contribution is minimal.
As the article points out, much of the current, popular hysteria
is based on misunderstanding which is hyped by uninformed but
well-intentioned citizens who are justly concerned about our
common future. Would that they were as well informed as they are
active. In spreading their disinformation, they unwittingly perform
a major disservice to the cultures they legitimately wish to help. As
the article makes clear, our embracing of fossil fuels is limited. We
will run out of affordable oil in a generation. We have enough dirty
coal to carry us for a couple centuries beyond that, but as carbon
dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, it will form a shield which
will prevent solar energy from reaching the earth’s surface, so it will
actually induce a period of global cooling. Alternate fuel systems
are discussed and embraced. Nuclear fission is a possibility but is
fraught with its own dangers. Disastrous meltdown a la Chernobyl
are always possible and, given the universal propensity for human
error, always a lurking possibility. Fusion is a Faustian bargain
because it produces toxic Uranium 238 by the ton while lethal
doses of this by-product are measured in nanograms. Complicating
the issue of storage of such poisonous material is that fact that it
has a half-life of 25,000 years.
Other sources of energy are given their due in this balanced
presentation of considerations of the issue but consistently found
wanting. Clean systems harvesting wind and solar hold out some
promise but are currently (pun) resisted by the dominant fossil fuel
industries. The trenchant ending of the article points out that global
warming will continue despite rather than because of what we do.