Coconuts in Wyoming? (and misled EcoNazis in DC) - FoxNews.com, June 2004

I knew there was clear and concise data about this global warming crapola. I just had to hunt for it. Funny how the articles of truth get so deeply buried under more sensational news, like people whining from ignorance or trying to put the fear of God and combustion engines into folks' hearts.

I love Fox's characterization: "Though temperatures obviously rise due to natural causes during the summer, global-warming activists like to take advantage of this time to dramatize their cause."

Man, these alarmists (oh, activists, yeah) really like to skew the facts. No, 'skew' is not a strong enough word. They blow it all so far out of proportion that it's a wonder their hot air isn't affecting global climate. I'm not sure what the motivation is for EcoNazis. Might just be a combination of Chicken Little Syndrome and phenomenal arrogance? How ironic that such misguided chickens think humanity is powerful enough to make a dent in the natural processes of this planet.

Yes, we are experiencing global warming, but we are not causing it.

FACTS, chickynoodleheads, look at the FACTS:

About 95% of the greenhouse effect is due to water vapor, 99.999% of which is of natural origin. (Incidentally, we need the greenhouse effect, else we'd be popsicles. It's the supposed 'runaway' effect that is a problem. Too much of a good thing.)

The other 5% of the greenhouse effect is due to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other miscellaneous gases.

Carbon dioxide, is responsible for roughly 3.6% of the greenhouse effect. About 97% of atmospheric carbon dioxide is natural; only about 3% is from human activity.

That means that only about 0.11% of the greenhouse effect (that is, 3% of 3.6%) is due to human releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Put another way, about 99.89% of the greenhouse effect has nothing to do with carbon-dioxide emissions from human activity.

Factoring in the other greenhouse gases, the total human contribution to the greenhouse effect is about 0.3%. In other words, about 99.7% of the greenhouse effect is due entirely to nature.

So, like, I really suck at math, but even I can see that it's not what we do, it's just how the planet is.

Yes, we should look for ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels, because 1) we're entirely too dependent on some hot heads in the Middle East as well as greedy oil barons in our own country and 2) while our CO2 production isn't hurting the planet, it's making us sick physically and financially, so it would be nice to find cleaner and cheaper ways to motor around.

Yes, cyclical changes are underway which are wreaking havoc with our weather and making it more hazardous to live on coastlines and in view of gorgeous [volcanic] mountains and on other desireable but seismically active terrains. But, shouting 'The sky is falling!" isn't going to change that. We have chosen where to live. If we want to continue living, we need to re-evaluate our choices.

BTW, to understand the 'Coconuts in Wyoming' reference, you'll have to read the FoxNews.com article. It's not really critical to the discussion, but it was an interesting headline. :)