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Letter: Does mankind contribute to global warming?

December 24, 2008

Dear Editor,

There are those who dispute the reality of global warming. Scientific evidence is that it has been occurring based not just on rising average temperatures, but on solar output and carbon release from the oceans.

But I would like to state here that the vast majority of us who are accused of stupidly not "believing" in global warming do not generally dispute that it has occurred, is or recently has been occurring, and will occur in the future.

What is in dispute is whether mankind contributes significantly to this process, and if we do, how much we really do contribute and how much is within our control. I am against costly economic sanctions against certain industries until such a time as it can be definitively proved that mankind, out of all the times we know this has happened during the earth's long history, is this time responsible for a natural process.

Yes, more than a few scientists insist mankind is behind this event. Most of them have population-reduction agendas, and I suspect they are willfully misinterpreting the facts. The sun gets hotter sometimes, and heats up the oceans, which release carbon from the cold water into the atmosphere. The atmosphere gets warmer, the oceans get hotter, more carbon is released, and on and on until something occurs to break the cycle - maybe a nice nuclear winter. Or maybe the sun just cools off.

Nowhere is mankind mentioned in this cycle (nuclear warfare excepted). These scientists like to cite that the incidence of warming directly correlates with increased population and industrial production. However, it also may be stated that increased population is due to global warming allowing increased crop production, allowing for larger populations.

At any rate, what we do know is that big industry is a very small percentage of the relatively small percentage that humans contribute to the overall carbon picture. Soaking them with taxes and carbon markets is not going to solve anything. The biggest part of our contribution comes from heating and cooling. You want to save the planet? Turn your thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer.

Bruce J. Willoughby

Danville

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