Global Warming and Global Cooling Happens - Don't Freak Out!

So, this global warming thing is something that the media and celebrities want you to believe is happening now and accelerating and is dangerous, and that its caused by anthropogenic carbon dioxide.

Well, they are wrong. Yes, I'm going there. I'm tired of people freaking out about this.

Check out these awesome videos:
Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4
He really blows this out of the water.

So, is Earth warming? It has natural variations in temperature. We are in a comparatively stable period with smaller variations than in the past - not an ice age, but a period with things like the medieval warm period and the little ice age. Yes the end of the 20th century was kinda warm, but there was nothing unusual about it.

What about CO2? The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has varied with little correlation to temperature. If CO2 isn't significantly effecting global temperatures, and man made CO2 is such a small part of that then why are people freaking out about CO2? Maybe because its easier to measure and tax than other gases or things that contribute to climate like the sun.

Here's a quote about CO2:
"But what about carbon dioxide? Produced by all forms of combustion and fermentation, CO₂ has been the focus of debate on climate change to such an extent that controls on CO₂ production have been connected to world economics (Kyoto Treaty) and pollution bartering.

At the present time, carbon dioxide makes up approximately 0.03 percent (or 300 parts per million) of the earth's atmosphere. In and of itself, that number is small when compared to the other major gases in the atmosphere. For example, oxygen and nitrogen are present at 21 and 78 percent respectively.

To obtain a sense for how much heat carbon dioxide absorbs and therefore contributes to global warming, the following information must also be considered.

More than 98 percent of all CO₂ in the atmosphere is produced by sources other than by man. For example, CO₂ is produced by forest fires, volcanoes, fermentation and animal and plant respiration.

Carbon dioxide does not remain in the atmosphere. It is absorbed in the oceans, lakes and rivers and is used by marine life to produce shells and food. It is also used by terrestrial plants to produce cellulose, sugar and other plant products.

Carbon dioxide is an essential and beneficial nutrient and is actively involved in a dynamic, not static process.

By comparison, water is present in the atmosphere in amounts varying from a few tenths of a percent in desert areas to as much as 4 percent in humid tropical areas. The amount of atmospheric water content changes dramatically with temperature and air pressure.

Clouds and fog are made up of water and 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Approximately 500 billion tons of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are added to the atmosphere each day, of which 98 percent is naturally produced.

In other words, only 2 percent is anthropogenic. Around 1.16 billion tons of water is evaporated each day. At any given time, there are 10⁶ billion tons of carbon dioxide and 12.9 x 10⁶ billion tons of water in the atmosphere."http://www.liberty-page.com/cliches/globalskip.html

Just like I've been telling people.

But what causes climate change?
The things that matter most to the climate of Earth are: distance and output from the sun, shape and changes in Earth's orbit, tilt of Earth's axis and its wobble.

It's pretty well known that the tilt of Earth's axis is what causes the seasons. The Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun July - September.
There's a lot more to it than that.

Milankovitch Theory

Earth's orbit varies in how elliptical it is from almost a circle, eccentricity of 0.005, to kinda elliptical, eccentricity of 0.058 on a period of roughly 100,000 years. Currently, the Earth is closer to the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere's winter decreasing its severity, while the Earth is farther from the Sun during the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

The angle of Earth's axial tilt (obliquity) changes between 22.1° and 24.5° and back on a period of about 41,000 years. This effects the severity of the seasons. More tilt means stronger seasons. Earth is currently at 23.44 degrees from its orbital plane.

Earth also wobbles, precesses on a period of about 26,000 years as the directions of Earth's axis of rotation changes relative to the stars.

This explains it nicely.
http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~geol445/hyperglac/time1/milankov.htm

Here are some presentations that explain the variations in Earth's orbit. That first one has some good pictures.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/slides/slideset/index.html

and the more simplified wikipedia version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles

And the output of the Sun also varies, sometimes there are more sunspots and sometimes there are fewer. The Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age are examples of more recent and shorter length (100s of years) climate change both caused by variations in the Sun's output. The MWP was warmer than present and people did pretty well. The LIA was colder than present and it had devastating effects on crops and populations, but made for some excellent violins.
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/little_ice_age.html

Here are some more articles about global warming being something to not freak out about:
http://canadafreepress.com/2007/global-warming020507.htm
http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1824
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=23359
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/11/07/weather-channel-founder-global-warming-greatest-scam-history

follow the money
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251458,00.html


Don't freak out about global warming. There are much more important things to freak out about.