Global warming...My motives...

Joel responded to a post on Global warming I had written. Joel said...
"Read Peter Doran's clarification of one of the articles you posted. I bring this up because the essential part of the global warming arguement should be about facts and interpretation, not a shotgun blast of journal titles that seem to contradict other scientific findings. Also, anyone who has been involved in scientific research knows that the idea that scientists are a "team that goes along (with the 'popular' idea)" knows that statement to be far from the truth. Finally, I can say that personally, my environmentalism was caused by my learning and understanding of science. Many of you suggest that environmentalists become scientists to forward misleading theories based on previously-held beliefs. I think you are way off the mark here."

Joel suggests that I hold a belief that enviromenatalists become scientists to forward misleading theories. That is not true. What I do believe is that there is certainly a force to treat as absolute fact a cause for global warming and I have been saying that more research is needed to determine what the reasons are. Peter Doran acknowldeges that even in the Antartic that some areas show a warming trend while others show a cooling trend. He acknowledges that more needs to be studied in order to determine a actual trend. I know he believes that on a global scale, temperatures are rising. I am sure he believes it is cause by humans, but he does not know, just like I don't know that it is not.

Joel was critical of the "shot gun blast" of journal titles. That is not a shot gun blast, but a list of scholary articles, many published in refereed journals showing what other people are researching. This type of thing is essential in a scientific debate. It also shows that human caused global warming is not a fact. It is a hypothesis that still needs testing.

One of the main reason I feel strongly about showing the other side of the debate is because nothing ticks me off more than when I hear from a politician or read letter to the editor suggesting a solution to global warming is to raise taxes on gasoline. That is just idiotic. No matter how high the price of gas goes, the distance I drive to work will remain the same. I will still burn fuel. I still will put carbon dioxide into the air. And the earth will warm or cool as it pleases.