Despite what the media often portrays, the real argument for global warming is not whether it exists. We’re fighting over how much our impact has been. Both sides tend to cling to facts that support their opinions. Green hippies cite deforestation statistics but ignore how quickly forests grow back. They show pictures of glaciers that melted away over 50 years, but no one even has a Polaroid of the glaciers that have grown over the same period. Nay-sayers always counter with Sun cycles and ice age stats that are difficult to prove and ignore the correlation of CO2 emissions to increased global temperatures.
Since before the Boston Tea Party, its been the American tradition to pick a side and stick with it until the end. This is the nature of politics in this country, we always seem to elect the extremists. What ever happened to the silent majority, moderates? Global warming opinion is full of moderates, but we only know about the extremists.
After much deliberation (actually, a lunch break) I came to my informed conclusion that both sides are nuts. I do lean towards the right and believe our impact on this world has been minimal. Human history has only been about 10,000 years, versus Earth’s history of 4,6000,000,000. If the human race were to disappear, our history would be gone as quickly as we came. Its true we’ve mastered this land better than any species before us, but we have not mastered this land. A concrete sidewalk, left unattended is reclaimed by the ground under it in a year. Look at an abandoned parking lot and you’ll know what I mean. This planet of ours is amazingly efficient at breaking down whatever we manage to pollute it with.
It’s safe to say our relationship with the atmosphere is the same as the ground. The evidence exists. Water vapor and clouds account for 90-95% of greenhouse gases. This is a factor we cannot control, also keep in mind hydrogen fuel cell cars emit water vapor. CO2 and its henchmen, NOx, CO, etc account for most of the rest. Most of our emissions are absorbed by natural sources like plant life as this is a part of the natural balance of our environment.
Again my argument is not that we aren’t polluting, just not as much as the media says we are. It’s fairly naive to think our impact on this planet is anything but a mosquito bite on the ankle of a 100 year old Mother Earth. Humans have lasted a week in her world, we’re quickly forgotten. We weren’t responsible for any of the bumps and bruises she encountered along the way. Global warming and the subsequent ice ages happened many times before we were around, and it will happen again without needing any help from us.
I’ll close up today by saying I do believe the human race is responsible for some aspect of the change in temperature we’re experiencing. I just don’t believe its all that significant.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about how all this interacts with our money.
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
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