by Colette Georgii

Created on: August 06, 2008

Thoughts on Global Warming: We are in Denial

People have come up with all sorts of reasons to deny the existence of global warming, to refute scientist's global warming hypotheses, and to generally conclude that global warming doesn't exist. They state that the earth has gone through cycles for billions of years, that the earth has warmed before, that water vapor is the warming culprit, not CO2.

Why would so many people refute Global Warming, a scientific fact? People don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. They care only for their immediate necessary needs and care nothing for the hundreds and millions of people and plant and animal life the world over that will be affected by global warming and in some cases are already being affected.

People generally want to believe they live in a comfortable world that will never change. So they suppress important information, deny the existence, and lie to themselves.

What should be important to all people is that Global Warming is not a myth. Global warming is "the increase of the earth's average temperature due to the buildup of C02 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by human activities." Human activities are the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) for energy; and cutting down trees. These activities increase the CO2 in the atmosphere.

Some are saying that the real culprit is water vapor, but the fact is that there is no water vapor buildup until C02 has caused the warming of the atmosphere.

"Atmospheric levels of water vapor, on the other hand, cannot be directly controlled by people; rather, they are determined by temperatures. The warmer the atmosphere, the more water vapor it can hold. As a result, water vapor is part of an amplifying effect. Greenhouse gases like CO2 warm the air, which in turn adds to the stock of water vapor, which in turn traps more heat and accelerates warming. Scientists know this because of satellite measurements documenting a rise in water vapor concentrations as the globe has warmed."
"The best way to lower temperature and thus reduce water vapor levels is to reduce CO2 emissions." (Environmental Defense Fund, Global Warming Myths and Facts, www.edf.org)

True the earth has been around for billions of years, but man has only walked the earth for about 10,000 years as far as we know, so therefore we are now living in a habitable earth with an increasing worldwide population that needs to address the concerns of earth. Cycles or no cycles, we as a

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