Point/Counterpoint: Is Global Warming Real?

Introducing Point/Counterpoint. This is a series of articles presenting differing views on a nature related subject showing opinions from two normal, everyday people. Recently we held an online chat between Nature Center Magazine writers Copas and Rob Wayne discussing the touchy subject of global warming. Read on to find out what they had to say.

Copas: Scientists have said that the Earth is undergoing major temperature changes. We had a strangely warm winter this year. All around the globe plants and animals are being affected by differences caused by these temperature increases. Glaciers and ice masses are rapidly disappearing causing worldwide water levels to rise and habitats for flora and fauna to disappear. Global warming, which is real, will affect us all and we need to learn how to adjust to it.

Rob: "Global warming" is a swindle created by certain scientists to gain funding for their own purposes. There are also other certain parties who have financial interest in this.These people know that if they can convince the masses that global warming is real, they'll spend big money on anything they tell them to. There has been no real evidence that global warming is happening. It's all just speculation. These people have been caught lying but they still shamelessly try to perpetuate this myth.

Copas: Polar bears are losing sea ice platforms which are used to hunt ringed seals and bearded seals. Because they are struggling to find food it has been predicted that polar bears will be extinct within a century. Arctic foxes and Gallucios winged gulls feed on polar bear carcases and they will have no food.

Rob: That idea is typical of the whole global warming scam. They show these polar bears on these floating pieces of ice to make people feel sorry for them while not telling anyone that polar bears have been using this mode of transportation for thousands of years. This is what they've been doing with the whole idea of global warming. The myth says that the planet has been warming over the last few hundred years and it has. We were warming up from something known as the Little Ice Age which the global warming scientists purposely omitted from their data. This little bit of warming is actually a good thing.

Copas: Because of the warming, the ecological balances throughout the world are being disturbed and sometimes totally destroyed. Brush fires are more common because of dryer conditions. When thousands of acres of grasses and trees are gone, the habitats of countless species of animals are gone. Many animals are indigenous to a single area. If the habitat can't support life, those animals will die out.

Rob: Any real warming we are having, if it still exists, is just bringing us back to normal from the Little Ice Age. That was a time of cold which we don't want to go back to. That cold caused worse hardships than the better climate we have today. The whole thing shows, for anyone willing to actually check, that humans don't really have the power to have that much effect on the climate of the planet. The only thing that can do that is the sun. Fluctuations in the sun cause temperature changes in the oceans which cause temperature changes on our planet.

Copas: All of which speaks to my point. Our planet is warming. There are already signs of damage to the ecosystem. Take salmon, for instance. The warmer water temperature is causing physiological stress, depletion of energy reserves, and increased exposure to disease. Warming causes the snow that feeds the rivers to melt earlier. If flooding disturbs nests, there will be no young. If the salmon do what comes naturally and follow warmer water temperatures to spawn, the young will be born earlier than normal. They will enter the ocean before the plankton they feed on is ready and the salmon will die. The point is not that we can change the warming; it is that we need to adapt and try to help other living things adapt. Otherwise our world will die.

Rob: Animals die out. It's a natural part of existence and not necessarily caused by warming. It just happens.  I keep hearing certain people saying the Earth is warming but it's cold in some strange places.There's actually a glacier in Africa. Just this spring Arizona had a huge snowfall. And while the United States had a warm winter, much of eastern Europe had record cold.

Copas: We did have a rough spring with the snow, but it was a nice change. Speaking of changes, the acidification of the oceans is causing the release of more CO2 into the air. In Australia the eucalyptus trees are being affected. Atmospheric CO2 levels diminish the quality of the eucalyptus leaves that provide food and nutrients to koalas. Countless animals and plants will be harmed by this alone.

Rob: This is the kind of thing I keep hearing from you people. Nothing will ever make you happy. You kept saying in the seventies that we were going into another ice age and now you've changed your minds about that. That didn't scare people enough so then you started blamed everybody for causing a hole in the ozone layer. But somehow, miraculously, it closed itself. Still wanting to make people feel guilty, you come up with the idea of global warming. I don't think your kind of people would be happy until everybody is all gone from here.

Copas: Humans were meant to be "The Keepers". We are supposed to protect the Earth and it's inhabitants. The most important task is to not make it worse. Whether global warming is real or not, I believe we need to do our best to not let plants and animals die out. We need to keep the waters, air, and land habitable for all of us. Perhaps we can't keep the planet from getting warmer. The real task is to try to find solutions that will help our planet survive.

Rob: I can agree that we can each try to protect our own little corner of the planet. And that's all I'm going to say about it.
--

Nature Center Magazine does not necessarily agree with any views expressed by either participant of Point/Counterpoint. The article is intended to stimulate thought, so what do you think? Do you have anything to add to the conversation? Do you agree or disagree with either one of these opinions? Even if you strongly disagree with one of our participants, no opinion is too strong... just keep it clean.