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Global warming the left's scare tactic
Letter to the Editor generic

Dear editor: 


It appears that global warming is a partisan scare tactic used by the left. They want us to think that we have to change our beliefs and behavior. You know . . . stop eating hamburgers and let’s get rid of the cows.

Many people are confused as to what is Global Warming and Climate Change. Global Warming refers to surface temperature increases while Climate Change includes everything else that increases greenhouse gas levels. Those of us, who don’t believe climate change is altering the world, think that catastrophe scenarios are just political hype. 

Sixty-nine percent of Republicans consider global warming to be overstated. In contrast, 4 percent of Democrats think the same. The perception of climate change differs widely along party lines with only 18 percent of Republicans think global warming will pose a significant threat in our lifetime, compared to 67 percent of Democrats. 

The Chicken Littles (the sky is falling) of the world believe that rising CO2 levels are the cause. During the ice ages, our atmosphere contained around 300 parts per million CO2, while today it’s 410 parts per million, which is an infinitesimally small number.

But CO2 is only a part of what is causing so called global warming. Actually, the Sun is playing an ever-increasing roll. The Sun is slowly becoming brighter. When hydrogen is converted to helium, the Sun’s core gets compressed, causing it to shrink, which makes it hotter. As the temperature increases, so does the number of nuclear reactions, which in turn yields more energy, which makes the surface of the Sun brighter.

In order to keep the reactions from increasing the temperature and density, the core must rise, causing energy to flow to the surface a little faster and it increases the outer layers, while at the same time, the Sun gets brighter.

The Sun is brighter than it was a few hundred years ago. This brighter Sun along with higher levels of greenhouse gases contribute to the change in the Earth’s temperature but it’s impossible to tell which is having the greater impact. 

A 10 percent increase in the sun’s brightness will trigger the evaporation of our oceans, which will take place over the next billion years or so. Predictions of exactly how rapidly this process will unfold depends on whom you talk to. As the oceans evaporate, more and more water will be present in the atmosphere instead of on the surface. This will act as a greenhouse gas, trapping even more heat and causing more and more of the oceans to evaporate, until the ground is mostly dry and the atmosphere holds the water, but at an extremely high temperature.

I don’t think any of us or our descendants will be around for this. So, let’s not be too hasty in doing away with gasoline vehicles, airplanes, electricity, and of course, cows.



Len Calderone

Midway

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