News From Terre Haute, Indiana

January 24, 2010

Readers' Forum for 1/25


A few more simple facts on global warming



This is in response to the letter written by George S. Bakken, professor of biology at Indiana State University, titled “Global warming is based on simple facts.”

Mr. Bakken is right about one thing, temperatures are increasing and hence it is getting warmer. It is no different than me telling you that chicken eggs are laid by chickens and have baby chicks inside of them. The global warming alarmists will try to tell you about melting sea ice, warmer temperatures, and start throwing numbers at you so that you think surely they are smarter than you and know what they are talking about, but the facts just do not support there theories.

Here are some “simple facts” as Mr. Bakken likes to put it that pertain to global warming:

n Fact, temperatures during the Medieval Warming Period (between 800-1200 AD) were higher than even the worst-case scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is what allowed the Vikings to settle Greenland.

n Fact, from 5000-3000 BC, it was even warmer. This was at a time when mankind started to build its first civilizations.

n Fact, the earth goes through warming and cooling cycles.

n Fact, one of the first so-called fathers of global warming is a man named Maurice Strong, who was with the U.N. and was linked to the oil for food scandal and thus stepped down from his position at the U.N. He is also one of the leading players in the selling of carbon credits.

Just because the global temperatures are warming does not mean that you have to listen to the scare tactics used by the global warming community and scientists. Mr. Bakken asks the question, “who might be motivated by profit?” and then goes on to blame the oil companies. We all know that the oil companies are motivated by profit, but so to are all the scientists who are getting billions of dollars in research funds, and the global warming players like Maurice Strong, and Dr. James Hansen who stand to significantly gain in wealth with every climate law that passes.

Then you have all the Green technology folks who also are motivated by profit. Let’s face it, in this day and age we are all motivated by profit. Mr. Bakken goes on to say if you want riches don’t work at a university.

Perhaps Mr. Bakken is working at the wrong university, or perhaps he is not bathing in the research funding that is being divvied out to study global warming, because the money is there, and plenty of scientists and professors and universities are getting rich off of it.

Mr. Bakken then goes on to delve into the war in the Middle East and how that if we just had renewable resources, we could leave and as he puts it “ignore them”.

Well, I am sorry, Mr. Bakken, to have to inform you of this, but regardless of whether we develop a viable renewable source of energy anytime soon, we will never be able to simply ignore parts of the world that are hell bent on destroying us, regardless of oil and the role it plays.

Do we need to take care of our planet? You bet. Do we need a renewable source(s) of energy? Absolutely. Should we try to make companies more environmentally responsible? Yes. Should we be forced to listen to the fear mongers, doomsayers, and agenda pushers who only care about how much money they can make and how much panic they can create? Absolutely NOT!

As for the polar bears, it would be nice if they make it, but just like the climate changes, so to do species, and even as they go extinct, new species are being discovered.

— Jason Poe

Terre Haute