The debate's over: Globe is warming. Don't look now, but the ground has shifted on global warming. After decades of debate over whether the planet is heating and, ... [USATODAY.com Nation - Top Stories]
Let me state that I do not think the environment is being treated correctly, either by big business or by the current administration in the United States (or at local levels). I also do not belive we are doing all we can for it.
That being said, the argument over so called global warming is far from being a scientific fact. The biggest problem with the theory is the time scale involved. Mankind has been collecting data on temperature for little more than 100 years. Data at least that can be considered accurate. Man as an animal has been on the planet for about 10,000 years (conservatively), so that translates to about 1/10 of 1 percent time over data - essentially null.
We have learned a great deal about this piece of rock we live on, but we are a long way from understanding what sort of cycles the planet has been through in over 4 billion years of life and we do not know what sort of cycles we will have to go through in our lifetime or our children's lifetime.
Can we do something to clean up our air? Absolutely. And if it takes the threat of global warming to get people to clean up their act, find alternate fuel sources and clean up the water, then I can go along with that. What I cannot go along with, as a geographer is the conclusion that this is simply the result of man. There are still too many unknowns to be addressed.
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