According to some eminent scientists and climatologists global warming is not due to human contribution of carbon dioxide (CO2).
They say that this in fact is the greatest deception in the history of science and claim that we are wasting time, energy and trillions of dollars while creating unnecessary fear and consternation over an issue with no scientific justification.
30 years ago we were told that global cooling was the biggest threat facing mankind. "It is a cold fact that global cooling presents humankind with the most important social, political and adaptive challenge we have had to deal with for ten thousand years. Your stake in the decisions we make concerning it is of ultimate importance to the survival of ourselves, our children and our species," wrote Lowell Ponte, author of 'The Cooling', in 1976.
No-one is denying that global warming has occurred. The world has warmed since 1680, the nadir of a cool period called the Little Ice Age (LIA) that has generally continued to the present. These climate changes are well within natural variability and explained quite easily by changes in the sun. But, many scientists say, there is nothing unusual going on. Temperatures declined from 1940 to 1980 and in the early 1970's global cooling became the consensus. By the 1990's temperatures appeared to have reversed and Global Warming became the consensus.
In his latest book "State of Fear" Michael Crichton, the scientist, writer and filmmaker, takes time to explain, often in surprising detail, the flawed science behind global warming and other imagined environmental crises. Another cry in the wilderness is from Richard Lindzen. He is an atmospheric physicist and a professor of meteorology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), renowned for his research in dynamic meteorology - especially atmospheric waves. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has held positions at the University of Chicago, Harvard University and MIT. Lindzen frequently speaks out against the notion that significant Global Warming is caused by humans. He points to the fact that the theory of Global Warming assumes that CO2 is an atmospheric greenhouse gas and as it increases temperatures rise. It was then theorised that since humans were producing more CO2 than before, the planet's temperature would inevitably rise. The theory was accepted before testing had started, and effectively became a law. As Lindzen said many years ago: "the consensus was reached before the research had even begun."
Now, any scientist who dares to question the prevailing wisdom is marginalised and called a sceptic, when in fact they are simply being good scientists. This has reached frightening levels with these scientists now being called climate change deniers with all the holocaust connotations of that word. The normal scientific approach is effectively being thwarted. Meanwhile, politicians are being listened to, even though most of them have no knowledge or understanding of science, especially the science of climate and climate change. Hence, they are in no position to question a policy on climate change when it threatens the entire planet. Moreover, using fear and creating hysteria makes it very difficult to make calm rational decisions about issues needing attention.
I think the time has come to take a step back and look again at the science. Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' may have won an Oscar, but Al Gore is a politician, not a scientist. We need to be sure of the scientific facts before we plunge hysterically over the edge of the cliff like lemmings. Remember the millennium bug?