by Pierre Du Plessis

Created on: January 21, 2009

Global Warming: Separating the Truth and Lies

Is there any reason for us to fear a warming of the earth's temperatures? Will such a warming occur? Certainly the temperature has risen by about 0.72C between 1906 and 2005. But is that caused by humans?

Of course, nature can cause a warming. Humans can also cause a warming. In cities, it is up to 6C warmer than in the countryside. But that isn't global warming. Natural climate change is caused by natural calamities, such as sunspots, which can make temperatures soar. Likewise, an absence of sunspots can make the earth cool down, as seen during the Sprer and Maunder Minimums, both of which coincided with the Little Ice Age, though it isn't proven that they were the cause.

One thing we can say for certain is that the climate changes. It always has done and always will right up to the time when the sun dies. Why does it change? There are several factors that I have been able to determine. Sunspots are an important factor, and may be able to cause other events to happen, such as a shutdown of thermohaline circulation (the stopping of the Gulf Stream) due to a large amount of ice cold fresh water being released into the north <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Atlantic from the icecaps.

But there are other factors. Volcano eruptions, especially "Super Volcano" eruptions not only release large amounts of CO2 (though the IPCC say they barely make an impact), which makes some people believe they cause global warming, but sulphuric oxides (SOx) are also released, which react to sulphuric acid (H2SO4) in the atmosphere, which blocks out the sun. That, coupled with the ash released from volcanoes, can have devastating effects on the earth's climate, as seen in 1816. In the year of 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia blew its top, which caused temperatures to fall worldwide for the next few years. The following year was known as "The Year without a Summer", and indeed Italy experienced red snow for the entire year. Apparently the snow was red because of the ash in the atmosphere. Regardless, at least 200,000 people died because of famine and other causes. Of course, sulphuric acid is heavier that other particles in the earth's atmosphere, and it fell back down to earth over the next few years, until the climate returned to normal.

So whilst some people argue that the climate has always changed over millions of years, and 0.72C over one hundred years is unprecedented, that is not the

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