Global cooling?
Don Coldsmith
Monday, April 23, 2007
CURRENTLY, we’re hearing quite a bit about global warming, caused by misuse of our fossil fuels and other natural resources. Somehow, I’m not ready to buy into the theory that we’re causing the winter we’ve just survived, with record-breaking LOW temperatures all over North America, because of “global warming.” Could it be that there’s no connection at all?
Back through history, there have been changes in the weather. Major changes, sometimes well documented in connection with shifting of the earth’s crust, volcanic activity and resulting change in the amount of sunlight shining through the darkened, dusty atmosphere.
In 1883, the island of Krakatoa, in the Pacific, between Sumatra and Java, exploded, blowing most of it to bits and killing 36,000 people. Volcanic dust darkened the sky for a year, changing the climate “for a year,” according to accounts at the time.
Similarly, Mount St. Helens in Washington State blew her top, only a few years ago. The world’s weather was affected and the sunlight filtering through the cosmic cloud produced beautiful sunsets for a year or two.
But, assuming that we’re CAUSING global warming which does exist, despite record-breaking lows this past year, seems a bit of a stretch. Planet Earth’s climate has undoubtedly changed many times since God created it all. Most of these times, we don’t have many factual records, just theories, because many of the scientists of those eras have perished with the rest.
I became fascinated with some of the possibilities, while doing the research a few years ago, for a novel on Vikings in North America. I’m determined never to write even fiction, which anyone can prove did NOT happen, historically.
I researched for that book, “Runestone,” for eight years, using a lot of Norse writings, translated to English, of course. It involved such historical figures as Leif Ericson and his brother Thorvald, who was killed in North American by natives. There are detailed accounts, translated from the Norse.
The point is, the Norsemen were crossing the North Atlantic regularly and had established colonies on Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and very likely, on the North American continent. Several of these sites have been explored by archaeological “digs,” verifying the Norse records.
But, that’s not the point. Suddenly, they STOPPED crossing the Atlantic. The climate seems to have changed rather suddenly and no one tried to cross the Atlantic until about five centuries later. Then, it was “discovered” that it could be done by navigators in the South Atlantic, almost to the tropics. The latecomer, of course, was Christopher Columbus.
Meanwhile, back in England, there are ancient woodcuts whose pictures verify our story. The Thames River, frozen over from bank to bank, was being used as a highway for heavy freight wagons. That’s odd, considering that the Thames has not frozen entirely across for several centuries, now. We must realize that climate has changed, as it has in our own area and worldwide, MANY times.
The world’s climate changes, probably because of factors we have never dreamed of. Maybe, even, global warming (and cooling). Our use of fossil fuels may be at least a part of the cause. But, if we do accept that theory, we must accept the responsibility of explaining all the other times that climate has changed, through the thousands of years involved. If we accept that our use of fossil fuels is causing global warming, what caused the changes, both warmer and cooler, a thousand years ago and before and since that time?
I think maybe we’re trying too hard to pin down a single cause. It seems more likely that the warming and cooling of Planet Earth is not going to be easily explained. To understand all the factors involved is so complicated a subject that I wonder if our finite brains are equipped to understand it. It might be similar, perhaps, to trying to teach your dog algebra.
Or, for that matter, to teach ME algebra. Much less, something as complicated as “global warming.”
See you down the road.
Author and columnist Don Coldsmith lives in Emporia.
goliberal (anonymous) says...
Nearly every scientist on earth has "pinned down" global warming, Come on.
April 23, 2007 at 5:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CAFEmporia (anonymous) says...
Virtually every recognized scientist in the world has agreed that a major cause of this global warming is caused by human activities. The grave consequences of this (read the IPCC reports) is such that we should and must act immediately if future generations are to live productive and peaceful lives. True, the causes are more than just one and we are still unable to understand the meteorological forces as well as we need to predict what will happen. Please look again at the data. Consider the use of carbon fuels as well as agricultural pollution of the oceans and what these things are doing to our planet. Consider the plight of amphibians worldwide. Why are the bees dying? What will happen if plankton is reduced by half? Global warming caused in large part by man is, I feel certain, a fact and our reluctance to act will not be appreciated a century from now.
April 24, 2007 at 1:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Denise_Dorcey (anonymous) says...
I'm returning the DVD "An Inconvenient Truth" to the Emporia Public Library today. I suggest you pick it up, Don! You will find the documentary answers your commentary on past climate changes.
April 24, 2007 at 8:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Mr. Coldsmith, you can doubt it all you like. But as others here have stated, it's been proven. And in the scientific world, a theory is a set of proven facts. Or, as Webster's Dictionary states: a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena.
I second the suggestion of watching "An Inconvenient Truth".
And why is it that a majority of people in the midwest or heartland states are the ones that disagree with global warming the most? Is it political? It shouldn't be so I don't get that.
And fwiw, the month of January was the warmest on record despite "record low" temperatures.
M
April 24, 2007 at 9:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
The BBC released a documentary titled "The Great Global Warming Swindle", which is also an eye-opener. Quite a few eminent scientists that somehow fall out of the group of "nearly every scientist on earth". Some have even had to threaten legal action to have their name removed from Gore's "documentary". And of course, disagree and your funding is gone. Anyway, quite a few facts are presented, but somehow they are overlooked (or else you get your funding pulled). I suggest people who are on the Gore bandwagon also watch this documentary (if it is possible to find it - maybe from the BBC itself), and if you still believe one way or the other, at least you can say you looked at the evidence with a fair and open mind and came to your own conclusions....
Strangely, it seems the video keeps disappearing from the web every time it surfaces... can anyone explain why? If we live in a world of free speech and free expression of differing opinions, why is it this documentary is constantly being pulled? Anyway, try the links below, I believe the first one still works (as of this moment)...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc...
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2589...
http://www.archive.org/details/The_Great...
April 24, 2007 at 12:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )