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Let's take a mental trip back a little more than three decades. It is the early 1970's, and there is a growing concern around the world that propellants in aerosol cans are not only destroying the ozone, but is causing a major change in the climate. Scientists and others warn that if nothing is done, we will witness major global cooling within decades, and possibly the onset of another ice age.

The US government and many others were quick to jump on the bandwagon. Bans on aerosol propellants were put into place in many countries, along with other changes that were supposedly related to the damage being done by those gases, though it was never explained why those changes were related.

Political parties around the world scurried to take a stand on this concern to procure the favor of the public. In the US, both the Democrat and Republican parties touted how great they were for replacing the propellant with such harmless gases as compressed carbon dioxide.

Now let's come back to the present day. The pendulum has swung, and now the big concern is over global warming, most of the worry using the exact same data that was used over 30 years ago to 'prove' that the climate was cooling down.

There is a difference, though. This time, it isn't the freon or gases containing Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) that is the terrible culprit, it is the gas that was touted as the great solution a few decades ago; carbon dioxide.

Once again, political parties are again scurrying to get the favor of the masses, even when they know that the assumptions are premature or based on faulty suppositions.

Let's look at just a few of those facts:

1. The climate is in fact changing, just as it has done for the last 4,500,000,000 years. Our climate is dynamic and it has never been static.

2. Hot and cold, that is to say temperature is an aspect of weather, not of climate. Climate is an average; so hot and cold have little meaning except when comparing it with all temperatures over a long period of time for all locations. This has seldom even been attempted, though we do know that the average temperatures, worldwide, are about three tenths of a degree warmer than they were a hundred years ago, and about five degrees cooler than they were 1500 years ago.

3. Carbon dioxide levels also fluctuate, and fairly high quantities are essential for life on this planet. They are a major basis of the carbon cycle. Without it, life as we know it would perish.

4. Natural emissions of carbon dioxide, such as by volcanic eruption, natural breakdown of plants, or wildfire far exceed the total amount produced by man by many times. Even trying to draw a comparison is like comparing an eyedropper full of water, to the amount of water contained in a gallon jug. Man currently doesn't have the ability to exceed natural emissions.

5. Water vapor is by far the biggest greenhouse gas, exceeding all others combined. Yet no one is delving into how we can eliminate all water and water vapor.

It is left up to the reader to discern if the current worry about global warming has more to do with environmental concerns or political propaganda. However, you should consider that while the facts do not support global warming now, any more than they supported global cooling three decades ago, politicians are benefiting greatly based on their stance on the issue.

A question to ask is this: What will happen when the pendulum swings back, as it is almost assuredly going to do?

Learn more about this author, Rex Trulove.
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