Global Hot Air
Anyone who has read my previous postings on the topic of global warming will have some idea of where my position on the topic is. To recap - the Earth's climate varies on its own, and has ping ponged between extremes throughout history, all without human intervention. I have yet to see any conclusive evidence that the current variation we are observing is anything more than a continuation of that cycle. As an example, take look at this essay and consider the implications. Perhaps what we are seeing today is something like the Little Climatic Optimum between the 10th and 13th centuries. Consider as well - what makes the average temperature recorded in, say, 1900 the correct one? How do we know that the climate data from the last 100 years isn't the aberration, and the Earth should actually be warmer because of its normal climate variation?
The answer is that we don't know. But that doesn't stop the alarmists, and for a very good reason. Their problem is not that they are truly worried about the effect of mankind on the climate, but rather the fact that they fear any change at all, even natural change. In their minds "man = bad", "climate change" = "man", therefore "climate change" = "bad." Very logical, for a certain mindset. Unfortunately this type of logic only applies in certain specific cases, and fails in the majority of them (for example - England is an island, Crete is an island, therefore Crete is England). That kind of thinking is not only bad science, its just plain sloppy.
So the next time you hear someone tell you how the human race is causing the Earth to warm up, ask them why that's a bad thing.