Global warming?

Let's combat this problem with fewer polititians spewing meaningless hot air.

It seems fairly reasonable to me that we--mankind--are dumping huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And that the carbon in this dioxide is "new" carbon, having been liberated from the remains of plants that lived aeons ago. We are also venting prodigious quantities of chemicals that serve to reduce the ozone in the upper atmosphere, thus permitting more of the damaging ultraviolet and other shorter wave radiation eminating from the sun to penetrate to the surface.

Global warming caused by humans has become accepted by so many in the scientific community (I leave the research into the truth of this statement to the reader) that for anyone to continue to assert that it's "not true" evokes shades of those folks who continued to maintain that the earth was flat, when there was so much mounting evidence that it wasn't. We know how that debate ended, I think.

I don't buy the argument that the people who are telling us that global warming is a fact have anything to gain from raising the alarm, except to raise awareness that we are slowly cooking ourselves, and that we should prefer to go on living. Identifying global warming as a mere "excuse" to raise more funds politically is so much a Repuglicant^TM way of thinking. I'm not surprised the good Senator thinks that way; his party has perfected this technique. But still, I really can't believe scientists have eschewed science for politics. That a Senator is more an expert on politics than science comes as no surprise at all. He should stick to what he knows.

Finally, a comment on the Senator's evocation of Michael Crichton's novel, State of Fear, in support of his position. Michael Crichton is a doctor--a medical doctor. He may have other degrees (you can look it up), but I'd be willing to bet climatology isn't one of them. Besides, his book was a novel, not a treatise. I do agree somewhat that some of the climate change we are seeing isn't due to our effects on the environment, but I am certain we are having an adverse effect on the environment. One that will only worsen over time. Awareness of a problem is the first step in remedying it. Now that we are aware of what we're doing, it's nothing short of complete idiocy to continue as we were, and do nothing. We need to start taking steps to reduce our emissions of CO₂, and start now. Our children (and their children, etc.) will thank us.

At home we have started turning off our computers and associated peripherals when we're not using them. I am also raising the temperature during the day (well, at least in the summer) when we're not at home to reduce our consumption of electricity. We have begun to replace (wherever practical) all the incandescent bulbs in the house with those spiral fluorescent ones. They're a little bit yellow, but you get used to it. Besides, they use a fraction of the power. We have also been carpooling to work for quite some time, and of course that will continue. When I think of other things we can do, I will start doing them.

You should do the same.

Abe Lincoln said: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." But of course, here I am opening my damn mouth ...