The Debate Over Global Warming

Monday, June 5th 2006
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Is it a surprise that Dr. Bill Gray, doesn’t think global warming is as sure fire as the media makes it out to be?

It might be difficult to tell that is his opinion from this snippet from The Frederick News-Post,

Meteorologist William Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, pioneered hurricane forecasting. Each year, Mr. Gray and his team issue predictions on the number of major tropical storms and hurricanes that will form in the Atlantic Ocean.

For 2006, Mr. Gray has predicted 17 named storms with nine becoming hurricanes, five of those with winds greater than 110 mph.

Warmer ocean water combined with lower trade winds favors the development of hurricanes in greater numbers and with greater intensity, he said.

“When the surface of the Atlantic is 1 degree higher in temperature, which it is, there is potential for a more severe season,” Mr. Markey said.

Yeah, “global warming” isn’t used once in this article, but this “garbage,” as Dr. Gray calls it is so embedded, so prevalent in the media that it is understood what the quote above is implying. Or maybe it is just me.

“Let’s just say a crowd of baby boomers and yuppies have hijacked this thing,” Gray says. “It’s about politics. Very few people have experience with some real data. I think that there is so much general lack of knowledge on this. I’ve been at this over 50 years down in the trenches working, thinking and teaching.”

One thing is for sure, a lot of misinformation is out there. I love it how climate change and global warming are virtually synonymous in that AP wire piece.

This is the most over-politicized environmental issue in my lifetime and it is skewing the debate, or lack thereof. This has become scripture for some people who have never even glanced at the evidence beyond snippets from the New York Times mentioning by what size a certain glacier has shrunk. I mean, neither have I, but at least I’m sitting here arguing for some actual discussion on the topic.