January 17, 2010

What Is The Cause Of Global Warming?

I've been doing some thinking about global warming. I'm concerned about the environment. I'm concerned that people act like we have unlimited resources. I'm concerned about our frivolous use of water. I try to recycle as much as possible. I enjoy the outdoors a lot and do not litter. When I fish, I always do my best to leave the area like I found it. I am slowly replacing all the light bulbs in the house with energy-efficient bulbs. With all this in mind, I'm having some difficulty with what I'm hearing about global warming.

I consider myself a spiritual person. I wouldn't say I am "religious" or "ritually observant," but I am spiritual and somewhat knowledgeable about religion. I believe in God. I believe there is a higher being. I'm not totally convinced God created Earth, but, even if the Earth resulted from some "Big Bang" or other scientific event, when it was created, it was pure. It was clean. It had water and vegetation. It had a hot molten core and there was an atmosphere above the Earth.

Later, Earth was inhabited by animals that lived and procreated. The animals drank the water, ate the plants, some lived in the water, and some ate other animals. Later, Earth was populated by people. They ate the animals and plants, and drank the water. Later they used resources they found on Earth to build homes, and eventually they built roads, cities, and all the creature comforts we have grown used to.

During all this change, Earth itself went through changes. One of my favorite places on the planet is Rocky Mountain National Park. When visiting the park one can learn a lot about the history of Earth. At some point in time, the beautiful Earth we envision as The Garden of Eden, cooled and was in an Ice Age. Later, Earth warmed, and the ice melted. In Rocky Mountain National Park, there is evidence of this in places like Glacier Basin and Moraine Park. Both were formed when glaciers melted and moved down the mountain sides taking everything in sight with them. History seems to suggest Earth goes through periods where it cools and warms. Even if you believe there is a scientific reason for this, instead of God making this happen, I am not aware of any dispute over Earth's tendency to warm and cool over many many years.

If all this is true, even if most of this is true, it seems awfully arrogant to think humans now have the power to effect climate change because of the cars they drive and the factories they operate. The cooling and warming of Earth has occurred over hundreds of millions of years. To think that since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, humans have effected climate change, is almost unbelievable. On the other hand, why would educated people make all this up? Can you believe in the theory of global warming and believe in God?

I've been accused of being cynical. More than once. For example, I have a theory about sports teams. I believe sports teams re-design uniforms in order to generate revenue from the sale of jerseys and caps. I believe teams keep their uniforms until they believe they've saturated the market with the sale of the uniforms to fans. Once the market is saturated, they re-design the uniform and start all over again. Is it possible someone at General Electric believes they have saturated the light bulb market? Could this person have realized this and helped spread the word about global warming to generate revenue for energy efficient light bulbs. Could people support the theory of global warming because by doing so they are helping to create new businesses that are using wind and alternative clean energy to run our home and cities? Could the theory of global warming be used to stimulate a struggling economy?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions. Maybe it means something that I am asking the questions. Maybe I'm out of my mind and should just go-along-to-get-along. If you've read all this, I'd be interested to know what you think. Leave a comment.

Thanks to http://air2aircorp.net/cms/global-warming-policy-and-aviation-p-28.html for the photo.
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Based on a work at www.bafman.com.