According to Dr. Mark Clayson who wrote the blog “Global Warming – Let Us Stop Beating Ourselves Over It” on gettingoffgrid.com, global warming does not exist. In this blog Clayson makes a number of claims as to why he thinks that global warming has become a topic that the general public concerns themselves with far too much, and even goes as far as to claiming that it does not even exist. Due to the fact that Clayson doubts the existence of global warming, he then as a result makes claims against global warming that are quite irrational and irrelevant to the situations that have been transpiring on Earth. In this blog Clayson represents his argument that global warming does not exist with four statements that he sees from daily life and uses them as facts, even though he does not take the scientific or realistic aspects of these occurrences into consideration. One of the reasons that Clayson does not believe in global warming is the fact that he believes that because Earth has cooled and warmed up in the past, we should therefore not continue to worry about the fact that Earth has been increasing in temperature. Along with the fact that Earth has been cooling and warming for years, Clayson also argues in his third point that Earth is also moving away from the Sun which accompanies his argument.
“1. The earth has warmed up an cooled down many times in its history. It is still here and it is still going strong despite man’s existence and influence on it. ... 3. The earth is moving away from the sun at a rate of knots. This is a natural phenomenon and one which will lead to global cooling rather than warming. It is the reason why Mars is cold and Pluto is very, very cold. The earth will cool, it will happen.” (Clayson 2010)
Now, although it is true that ice ages have occurred in the past, the reason for one to occur now is not the same as for one to have occurred in the past. The ice ages that have happened in the past had much greater extremities and happened for different reasons. One also must take into consideration the fact that humans did not have scientific knowledge at the time at which the last ice age occurred. (Also take into consideration that many people believe that we are all still currently in an ice age if we look at Greenland and the two Antarctic poles.) The fact that ice ages have occurred in the past, like Clayson says, is very true, but Clayson did not think over how many species actually survived the ice age; not many. Along with ice ages, global warming has also occurred in the past, the only difference from the past would be that, along with the time at which ice ages happened, scientific knowledge was not existent at that time. One has to be realistic; global warming is occurring now because of the impact that we are making on Earth and the decisions that have been made as to how to treat it. Clayson was correct in saying “despite man's existence and influence” but the global warming that is occurring now is due to the impact that we have been making on Earth. Humans have greatly impacted, if not created the global warming that is currently occurring. To say that we should stop worrying about it because we have nothing to do with it and that we cannot stop it is just irresponsible and selfish because we are very much partly to blame. Deforestation, burning fossil fuels, methane from cattle and rice paddles, and much more are all the influences of the human race and are also a large part of the reason why global warming has currently been an issue.
When Clayson makes his statement about the planets moving away from the sun, although this statement has not been proven to be true, but if it were, the rate at which the planets are moving away from the sun is not fast enough for there to be such a great impact as the cooling of Earth. The predicted rate at which the plants are moving away from the sun is that of which we can adapt to. Either way, if this fact were to be true, it would not prove in any way the global warming is not possible.
Clayson does make relevant and believable points, to people who are not properly and scientifically educated of the facts and studies that have been taken place for years. His arguments are very superficial and do not have much scientific relevance nor truth. Clayson claims that global warming does not exist because of the polar bears. He makes some quite ridiculous claims, especially when he explains that because polar bears are still in existence, this means that global warming does not exist. He says,
“Polar bears have seen the ice cap melt before and they are also still here – OK, I admit, a few of them have lost their lives on the way and it is pretty uncomfortable being on top of a floating piece of ice that has melted off from the main flow – drowning is not nice but neither is being mauled by lions, but the wildebeest don’t complain too much.” (Clayson 2010)
To assume that global warming does not exist because the polar bears are still in existent is just not relevant in any way to science. Polar bears are currently an endangered species of bears and to say that dead animals are not complaining is simply irrational. I understand that Clayson is trying to imply that polar bears have survived melting and the heating of the Arctic before, but to use this to try to disprove scientifically proven theories is quite unrealistic, especially since the polar bears are endangered.
Overall, the arguments against global warming are not very strong, if not irrelevant. A lot more scientific knowledge and research would have to be used to properly disprove a scientific theory that has been studied for years. The arguments that are presented are weak and do not stand, especially when they are compared to the scientific data that is presently supporting the existence of global warming.
By Eliza Solis-Maart
0712280
Picture: http://3danimation.e-spaces.com/global_warming/global_warming_animation_hd.jpg
Original Blog: http://gettingoffgrid.com/2010/11/09/global-warming-let-us-stop-beating-ourselves-over-it.html
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