In recent years, global warming has been the subject of a great deal of political controversy. As scientific knowledge has grown, this debate is moving away from whether humans are causing warming and toward questions of how best to respond.
The facts are, however, that signs of a warming Earth are recorded all over the globe. The easiest way to see increasing temperatures is through the thermometer records kept over the past century and a half. Around the world, the Earth's average temperature has risen more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) over the last century, and about twice that in parts of the Arctic.
This doesn’t mean that temperatures haven't fluctuated among regions of the globe or between seasons
and times of day. But if you average out the temperature all over the world over the course of a year, you
see that temperatures have been creeping
upward.
Now we find that Rick Perry, a Presidential Candidate from the Republican Party, has taken it on himself to state that there is no such thing as global warming, thus returning it to the Political arena as an issue. The Texas governor was appearing at a New Hampshire breakfast event with business leaders November
17th when he said "there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects."
Perry said scientists are coming forward almost daily to question "the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change." He said the climate is changing but that it has been changing "ever since the earth was formed."
Perry added that "the issue of global warming has been politicized," and argued that America should not spend billions of dollars addressing "a scientific theory that has not been proven, and from my perspective is more and more being put into question."
There is wide consensus among climate scientists that global warming is taking place and that the actions of human beings have contributed to the increasing temperatures.
To circumvent this political argument we should simply view it as an issue of Pollution...and take steps to address the pollution that we dump into our air and water…or correct the nutrient imbalance we till into our soils…or the pesticides we spray upon our crops. And we should be on the lookout for Climate Change solutions to help those who are being subjected to the impact of our changing planet...be it warming or cooling trends...as this is the only place we have and it as to last.
This doesn’t mean that temperatures haven't fluctuated among regions of the globe or between seasons
and times of day. But if you average out the temperature all over the world over the course of a year, you
see that temperatures have been creeping
upward.
Now we find that Rick Perry, a Presidential Candidate from the Republican Party, has taken it on himself to state that there is no such thing as global warming, thus returning it to the Political arena as an issue. The Texas governor was appearing at a New Hampshire breakfast event with business leaders November
17th when he said "there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects."
Perry said scientists are coming forward almost daily to question "the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change." He said the climate is changing but that it has been changing "ever since the earth was formed."
Perry added that "the issue of global warming has been politicized," and argued that America should not spend billions of dollars addressing "a scientific theory that has not been proven, and from my perspective is more and more being put into question."
There is wide consensus among climate scientists that global warming is taking place and that the actions of human beings have contributed to the increasing temperatures.
To circumvent this political argument we should simply view it as an issue of Pollution...and take steps to address the pollution that we dump into our air and water…or correct the nutrient imbalance we till into our soils…or the pesticides we spray upon our crops. And we should be on the lookout for Climate Change solutions to help those who are being subjected to the impact of our changing planet...be it warming or cooling trends...as this is the only place we have and it as to last.
