Friday, December 28, 2007
Not just blowin' smoke
In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, geologist M.A. Kauffman makes more sense in 155 words than Al Gore's made using 155,000. To wit:
"If one wants to join the crowd promoting carbon dioxide-caused global warming ('Geochemists Chart Carbon Dioxide Levels at 650,000-Year High,' Dec. 14), delving into geological history doesn't promote the cause well. Historically, high CO2 levels have been a symptom of warming, not a cause.
"There have been periods when atmospheric CO2 levels were up to 16 times what they are now, periods characterized not by warming but by glaciation.
"Yes, you might have to go back 650,000 years to match our current atmospheric CO2 level, but you only have to go back to the Medieval Warming period that occurred from the 10th into the 14th century to find an intense global-warming episode. This was immediately followed by drastic cooling of the Little Ice Age.
"Neither of these events was caused by variations in C02 levels, but were most likely the result of variations in solar irradiance caused by changes in the sun's magnetic field."
"If one wants to join the crowd promoting carbon dioxide-caused global warming ('Geochemists Chart Carbon Dioxide Levels at 650,000-Year High,' Dec. 14), delving into geological history doesn't promote the cause well. Historically, high CO2 levels have been a symptom of warming, not a cause.
"There have been periods when atmospheric CO2 levels were up to 16 times what they are now, periods characterized not by warming but by glaciation.
"Yes, you might have to go back 650,000 years to match our current atmospheric CO2 level, but you only have to go back to the Medieval Warming period that occurred from the 10th into the 14th century to find an intense global-warming episode. This was immediately followed by drastic cooling of the Little Ice Age.
"Neither of these events was caused by variations in C02 levels, but were most likely the result of variations in solar irradiance caused by changes in the sun's magnetic field."
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Friday, December 28, 2007 
