LETTER: Is climate changing any more than usual?

Talk about it

To the Editor:

Seth Tupper raised the question of why the issue of climate change was not included in the presidential debates. He then went on to show how the corn belt is moving. But I ask, is this change not the result of improved hybrids and farming methods rather than climate change?

Climate is always changing. All history indicates humans thrive more during warmer periods than cold periods. Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov, who is the head of Space Research in Puklvov Observatory, St. Petersburg, believes “The global warming alarmists have confused cause and effect. As solar radiation warms the earth, CO2 is released into the atmosphere from the world’s oceans.”

It is likely, though, that Earth has warmed less than what Seth indicates. Distortions can come from urban heat-island effects and the fact that 71 percent of the planet is covered by water. The most accurate measures of temperature come from satellites.

Since the start of these measurements in 1979, they show minor fluctuations and an insignificant change in global temperature. Does anyone know what the right amount of heat is?

Actually, most of the “greenhouse effect” is due to water vapor and clouds which make up 97 percent of the atmosphere. Meteorologist Brian Sussman’s calculation in his book “Climategate” show humanity’s share of the greenhouse effect as nine-tenths of 1 percent, while solar activity accounts for three-quarters of the Earth’s temperature, according to the Marshal Institute. For humans to presume that they can have a major impact on climate is vain and delusive. Instead, we need to look to our Creator who “understands the spreading of the clouds, he who scatters His light upon it, and covers the depths of the sea” (Job 36:29-30).

Would not the cost of increasing the price of energy cause more harm to the poor than changes in climate? And do we want ever-increasing government control of our energy usage? During the cap-and-trade debates in 2009 and 2010, proponents cited scientific studies predicting that curtailing American CO2 emission reductions would shave a few hundredths of a degree off future temperatures, while costs run into trillions of dollars.

Tags: climate change, opinion, updates, letters