Comments on: A Response to Gore

By: Stephen Kingston

Stephen Kingston — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 11:28:25 +0000

The environment is an incredibly complex system - the exact controls of which
are still unclear. A couple of things are certain though:

1. It is absolutely indisputable that both temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been rising in the last hundred years or so; and 2. it is also clear on theoretical grounds that carbon dioxide causes a greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide levels are rising as a result of human activity.

Basically no one disputes these facts. They have been measured.

Unfortunately, the next stage is a little less clear. It may be that the two are not tightly linked; it may be that the long-term effects are not warming but cooling (because of the complex way the system works. For instance, recent research has measured a 20% cooling over 10 years of the North Atlantic Drift - the gulf stream that keeps Northern European temperatures so much more temperate than Labrador, which is at about the same latitude).

How do wetlands interact with carbon dioxide? What is the effect of deforestation, and reforestation in Northern climbs? (Recent research in University of Wales at Aberystwyth - where I am - suggested that reforestation in Canada causes less reflection of sunlight and greater absorption of the energy, thus paradoxically warming the climate).

No-one can prove the implication: human beings are producing carbon dioxide that is directly leading to global warming. But, let me repeat: “all things being equal”, human beings are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and carbon dioxide causes a greenhouse effect.

Given this theoretical background, I think that our base assumption must be that human activity _is_ partly responsible. In this case, we must be considered guilty until proven innocent. This is particularly so because it really may be too late to do anything about the problem if we wait too long. Some are arguing it is already too late to do anything about the problem, and we must invest our energies in adapting our civilisations to cope with climate collapse. We can hope these people are wrong, but we cannot ignore this problem. So on all these these grounds, we should be actively trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Regards,
Stephen

By: Chris Naron

Chris Naron — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 01:44:59 +0000

Have either of you read State of Fear by Michael Crichton? I know he’s an MD and fiction writer, but his apendices are impressive. His main point on global warming and climate change is that the data is so scant as to make the political movement trying to stop it highly suspect of hidden motives.

By: MInTheGap

MInTheGap — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 01:26:38 +0000

I don’t think that there’s any question that climates change– they changed from the Adamic time to the Noahic time to the current time. There have been periods of warming and cooling. I do not think that there is a consensus to the amount that greenhouse gases are the cause of it– and I (being a mere CompSci major) do not have the qualifications to say that there should be.

To my analytical mind, there are too many factors to attach climate change to any one factor because we don’t have significant control body in order to test against. Nor can we eliminate factors very well– we cannot turn off the sun, for instance.

That all being said, I can trust the God of the Universe to control the climate.

By: Stephen Kingston

Stephen Kingston — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 22:59:45 +0000

But Bob Carter is not a climate scientist either. His field is geology and marine gelogy, and he understands paleo-climate (i.e. what the climate was in the distant past). His interest in climate change seems to be at the hobby level. He has not published research on it.

I think you will find the clear scientific consensus is that climate change is certainly happening now, is either man made or exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions, and it will get worse in the coming years.

You will find much disagreement on details, and it may be that Al Gore has overstated things in his movie. (I haven’t seen it, but I have never seen an understated movie yet!) However, there is no doubt that climate change is a serious issue, which will cause substantial suffering over the years. That is a clear scientific consensus.

I have listened to many nay sayers on this issue, but I notice that whilst they often say that there are climate scientists who disagree with the consensus, they cannot seem to name any.

I wrote a post about what I see as the Christian response to global warming here:

http://safle.org/wordpress/200.....rming.html

Regards,
Stephen