Guest Post: Scientists Didn't Invent Global Warming

Hello Opinion Page Editor,

I noticed the many letters you published on today's opinion page which realistically examined the problems posed by our unregulated use of fossil fuels-many more like them should be posted there in the future.

Once again, this is not for publication. I just hope you will read this short letter whenever you have the time.

The following paragraph is from this source:

Wigley, T. M. L., and P. D. Jones (1981). "Detecting CO2-Induced Climatic Change." Nature 292: 205-08.

And the following specific quote from the work of its authors was taken from this website:

http://history.aip.org/climate/index.htm

"The effects of CO2 may not be detectible until around the turn of the century. By this time, atmospheric CO2 concentrations will probably have become sufficiently high (and we will be committed to further increases) that a climatic change significantly larger than any which has occurred in the past century could be unavoidable. To avert such a change it is possible that decisions will have to be made (for example, to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions) some time before unequivocal observational proof of the effects of CO2 on climate is available."

Since this quote comes from 1981 and shows that much of what's happening now has been predicted more than three decades ago, that means that if those who wrote it were in their 30s or 40s at the time, they would now be approximately 66-76 years old. That's a long time for a group of misguided and dishonest climate scientists to plan a clever and insidious takeover of the world's economy, since even their children might not benefit from such a nefarious scheme.

But the serious investigation into what is now known as global warming has been happening as far back as the 1950s and was never intended to fool anyone. The fact is, that scientists who keep us informed about this phenomenon did not invent it for any kind of personal gain-to the contrary-they have been dedicated to uncovering data for the purpose of warning ourselves and our government's authorities about the very serious problems increased warming is likely to cause.

It was actually the fossil fuel industry that made this into a political issue once they realized that being required to significantly reduce their Co2 emissions would cut into the profits they were making-a much more logical reason to suspect the existence of deceit and dishonesty on the part of the fossil fuel industry than any of the absurd charges about a supposed scientific conspiracy that is supposed to be taking place today. And even though Exxon Mobile's scientists researched this issue as far back as the 1970's, and predicted exactly the same type of climate problems that we are now experiencing today (due to our continued and potentially unlimited use of fossil fuels), still, not nearly enough significant reductions in our levels of atmospheric Co2 have happened.

So, is it any wonder that because our scientists are being used as scapegoats by deniers working for the fossil fuel industry in order to distort the facts about global warming (merely to hold on to their immense profits), that scientists today have become frustrated and angry about the wall of misinformation and denial that global warming deniers are continually raising---merely in order to keep the public from knowing the truth?

Please understand that the press today truly has no idea about how much they are contributing to the perpetuation of ignorance concerning this issue. Many of the things deniers write in letters to our editors, are simply patently false and could be easily fact checked if American news outlets would simply consult with real climate scientists before publishing them. I only hope you will come to realize just how outrageous all these forms of obstruction and proliferations of misinformation via the use of false facts and clever semantics really are.

If medical science warns us that the nicotine in cigarettes can cause cancer, or that the ingestion of fatty products can lead to heart disease, are they doing this just because they want to scare us? No-obviously they want to provide as much information as possible so that the public will have sufficient awareness about what the dangers of using these products potentially involves. Likewise, warning us about global warming is done by scientists out of their professional sense of responsibility for making sure we are informed enough to make intelligent decisions in the future. That's all.

Sincerely,

Peter W. Johnson