Thinking Out Loud
By
Gerard Meister
New Page 1
My constant readers know that I’ve been studying global weather
patterns from the time I first learned of the danger of Global Cooling (yes,
that’s Global Cooling) during my freshman year in college, 1947. My
professors, without exception, were agog about the perils of falling
temperatures. Concerns over the worldwide drop in temperatures lasted well into
the 1970’s and was highlighted by a host of (mainstream) newspaper and
magazine articles warning us about catastrophic effects caused by global
cooling, as per the small sample below:
Science magazine (Dec. 10, 1976)
warned of "extensive Northern Hemisphere glaciation." Science Digest
(February 1973) reported that "the world's climatologists are
agreed" that we must "prepare for the next ice age." The
Christian Science Monitor ("Warning: Earth's Climate is Changing Faster
Than Even Experts Expect," Aug. 27, 1974) reported that glaciers
"have begun to advance," "growing seasons in England and
Scandinavia are getting shorter" and "the North Atlantic is cooling
down about as fast as an ocean can cool." Newsweek agreed ("The
Cooling World," April 28, 1975) that meteorologists "are almost
unanimous" that catastrophic famines might result from the global cooling
that the New York Times (Sept. 14, 1975) said "may mark the return to
another ice age." The Times (May 21, 1975) also said "a major
cooling of the climate is widely considered inevitable" now that it is
"well established" that the Northern Hemisphere's climate "has
been getting cooler since about 1950."
And as a well-read skeptic I take particular delight in pointing out some
of the caveats of yesteryear’s experts on global cooling are now employed
fulltime by the current roster of weather experts, but this time it’s on
global warming, to wit; (All italics added by author for emphasis.)
- “the
world’s climatologists are agreed” [we must] “prepare for the
next ace age”
- meteorologists
“ are almost unanimous” ( that catastrophic famines might result)
- (global
cooling) “may mark the return to another ice age”
- “a
major cooling of the climate is widely considered inevitable”
Interestingly, as I researched this piece I picked up a
worthy ally for truth in global weather –
the Pope! Yes, Benedict XVI spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics
released sections of an address the Pontiff will make on January 1, 2008, World
Peace Day. Pointedly, the Pope released his coming remarks to the UN convention
in
Bali
, where assorted politicians, pseudo-scientists, global warming activists and
scientists were convened.
The Pope reasoned that, “Solutions to global warming must
be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.” Further, the Pontiff
added, “Fears over man-made emissions melting ice caps and causing a wave of
unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.” Moreover, the
Pope had a special message for environmentalists: We need to care, “[b]ut not
to the point where the welfare of animals
and plants was given a greater priority than mankind!”
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