POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Letters to the Editor and other People Speak
FROM- ITHACA JOURNAL

The global warming cycle

Several weeks ago an Ithaca Journal cartoon had a little girl who wanted to be a "preconceptual scientist," one who forms opinions with no research and refuses to look at any other evidence. It seems to me that is where most people are with the subject of global warming being caused by humans.

We are early in global warming's third cycle since 400 B.C. The current warming period started about 1640 A.D., rose rapidly for about 50 years, stopped until about 1840 A,D, and started to rise again until the 1940s, then cooled slightly for about 40 years before starting to rise again. Earth's temperature is now slightly above the average for the last 2,500 years. From 1000 A.D. until 1400 A.D., the temperature rose significantly above the current temperature. This data is from the "Climate Change 1995, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."

The important thing is that the carbon dioxide level lags temperature rise by as much as 500 years. What has happened is that in past cycles, cooling has occurred when the carbon dioxide levels have been the highest.

To learn more about this, read "Unstoppable Global Warming" by Drs. Singer and Avery. The current push has everything to do with politics and control, very little to do with science, and will cost everyone thousands of dollars.

E. W. Seymour

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