Is Global Warming a Myth?

This article looks at the debate over whether global warming is actually a real man-made event or a natural process that is occuring without humanity's actions being a cause.

(If you think any of the facts are incorrect, please feel free to email webmaster@newarchaeology.com)

The 1997 Kyoto treaty commited industrialised nations to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, principally Carbon Dioxide, by around 5.2% below their 1990 levels over a ten year period. However the treaty was effectively blocked by the United States where a number of high profile scientists and spokespersons argue that there is no evidence that people are responsible for increasing global temperatures.

It is a fact that volumes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are rising and this rise probably results from our burning coal, oil and natural gas. Nobody debates those two points, but the USA scientists argue that the connection between any supposed global warming with its threat of catastrophic environmental consequences and the rising levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is unproven.

They further state that a global warming of the atmosphere is not occurring. They point out that the natural temperature of the atmosphere rises and falls over a wide range over time.

It is certainly true that during the past 3,000 years, there have been five extended periods when it was on average warmer than today. There are also extended periods when it was on average cooler than today. Although temperatures seem to have been rising for the last 300 years, it is still colder than the average temperature over the last 3,000 years.

However Seven of the ten warmest years on record (since 1853, when records began) have all occurred in the past ten years. it is this rapid change which so concerns the signatories of the Kyoto treaty. 2000 of the most respected scientific studies on climatology we collated and digested before the 1996 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that "The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate."

(Climate change in the past 1000 years - image from
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
http://www.ipcc.ch/present/graphics/2001syr/small/05.16.jpg

In the USA a massive petition campaign was set in progress calling on the government not to act on the Kyoto agreement. Many people would sign this from short term self interest, because jobs in the American oil, automotive and other industries would have been threatened had the Americans agreed to the Koyoto protocols.

Since then, the rest of the world has become convinced that climate change due to human activity is no myth and is a slow motion disaster in progress.

For those of us who are not scientists, we need to make a choice about who we believe. Is it the world's top 2000 scientists on climatology or the employees of Exxon?