Mendolonium

A little while ago a friend of ours asked “what exactly is the greenhouse effect and how it is related to the problems of global warming and high gas prices?” It was right then, that I realized that the majority of the public is very ill informed about the state of our environment. Now this friend is well educated, and for the most part well connected to current events. But he, like so many others, has been overwhelmed by contradictory information, subtle misrepresentation of facts, and outright lies – and has long since given up on determining the truth. I would like to fix that. There is no reason that the truth about the greenhouse effect and global warming should be clouded by misunderstanding.

Over the next few days I am going to attempt to clear the air on global warming. My three part series will cover
1. The Greenhouse Effect: Mother Nature’s Cozy Blanket
2. Global Warming,: The Evidence for an Anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect
3. The Results Are In: What Can We Do and How Far Do We Need To Go

The greenhouse effect is actually a natural phenomenon which allows life on this planet to exist. Without natural greenhouse gases like water, carbon dioxide, methane, and others we and all other life would be frozen solid. However, with the increased use of fossil fuels which power our economy, the balance of these greenhouse gases has shifted and we now are in a state of excessive greenhouse warming. The evidence for this is unmistakable. Increases in greenhouse gases have been measured back to before the industrial revolution. Temperature increases have been measured around the world. Subtle changes to natural ecosystems have been observed, affecting birds, grazing herds, and farmers.

But what do we do? The first thing to do is reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 10% and we need to do this in the next five years. It doesn’t sound like a lot… 10% in five years, but currently we are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and we are increasing it faster than we have ever increased it before. To change the planet’s atmosphere we must have a planet-wide effort. “Green” can not be a trendy ad campaign driven by short term sales figures, it must be a way of life for everyone driven by our future self preservation.

***Part One of a Four Part Series***

On the 20th anniversary of James Hansen’s first warnings to Congress that global warming is upon us he testified yesterday saying that “We’re toast if we don’t get on a very different path“.

One of the highlights of the article is that when Hansen first testified twenty years ago in 1988, it was the hottest year ever recorded. Now in 2008, NOAA has recorded that fourteen of the past twenty years have been even hotter.

My favorite quote from the article is from “longtime global warming skeptic” Senator James Inhofe (Republican, Oklahoma) who cited a recent poll when he said in a statement, “Hansen, Gore, and the media have been trumpeting man-made climate doom since the 1980s. But Americans are not buying it.”

Ah, well that changes everything. A poll says that anthropogenic (man-made) global warming isn’t occurring. Science by poll. I sure wish that we had known about this concept sooner. If we had, Jeff simply could have conducted a poll to get his Ph.D. in environmental science. That would have saved him a number of years in grad school. He could have just done a poll. I am sure that if he uses this new technique he will be on the fast-track to tenure at an excellent institution.

When I read something that preposterous I don’t know whether to scream in frustration or to laugh. Every reputable scientist in the world believes that global warming is occurring and that it is directly caused with the anthropogenic burning of fossil fuels. Coming soon: a series of posts from our own resident environmental scientist on global warming 101.