There is conflicting research on whether so-called global warming is part of a natural trend or whether it is a man-made cataclysmic event. The facts aren't settled, but some people have no less than a religious furor over it, and incredibly judgemental disdain and belligerence for those of a different opinion.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.
I don't know enough to be convinced of either side, and don't think that we really have enough data to understand the big picture with certainty. (I am more inclined to think it's part of a larger trend.) However, I don't need to "know" whether "global warming" is natural, caused my humans, or some of both, to argue that it's always good to be more mindful of our impact on the environment, because we can and do destroy it in a lot of ways. Nobody can really argue whether it's better to touch this earth lightly. I think that many people are so zealous that they turn people away from a more important message of stewardship. And that's a loss to their cause.
Randy Jagielo said something in another context entirely, along these lines... Right or wrong, people are going to do what they're going to do, and right or wrong they'll do it whether you get worked up or not, so why not be nice and hope they stick around and come around to your choice of behavior, if not your view.
I'd like to add summaries of research, with links, later... as always, you hear something enough times it becomes true, whether it is or not.
Back to work. I get appreciated for thinking clearly, but paid to get stuff done.
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4 comments:
Good post. Well balanced with a good tone.
I'm looking forward to the summaries of your reserach. From what I've read there is a natural warming occuring and it is been compounded by human activity, but it is difficult to determine how much impact we're having.
pardon me, but i have to do one more, i certainly appreciate your clear thinking, i cannot pay you, but would like to add something to you. on global warming: it is easy to miss, this larger and more subtle 'event continuum', but global warming is part of a God directed (super-natural) event pattern, not a part of either a 'natural' thing, nor a 'human thing', though both play a necessary role in the spiritual continuum. you and i, we, are here for that. Jim.
Jim; you're welcome to comment as you'd like! Iron sharpens iron, after all.
I do essentially agree with your comment, though. To be a little more clear on language; God is the primary cause (ahhh Durang thanks for that)... any object/event is one thread in an infinite tapestry. So my commentary on "nature or human" is really one on the apparent cause, perhaps more aptly called mechanism.
It is said that a wise person admits that he/she is ignorant. From what I've read in Science magazine and the BBC, there is too much independent evidence that most global warming is due to anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide and that the planet has not seen these levels of CO2 in the present atmosphere. I say present atmosphere because the CO2 levels may have been higher when the atmosphere was anaerobic. Plant life changed the composition of the atmosphere. Now, other evidence, glaciers are retreating at increasing rates and have been shrinking since the Industrial Revolution. This evidence is independent of global rise in temperatures, earlier Springs, shrinking polar ice caps, drowning polar bears, etc. The facts are irrefutable. The problem is that people have politicized the issue. An eloquent essay about the whole issue is here: http://www.issurvivor.com/ArticlesDetail.asp?ID=530 . Decide for yourself.
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