Climate, sea level, and ice sheets have always
changed, and the changes observed today are less than
those of the past. Climate changes are cyclical and are
driven by the Earth’s position in the galaxy, the sun,
wobbles in the Earth’s orbit, ocean currents, and
plate tectonics. In previous times, atmospheric carbon
dioxide was far higher than at present but did not drive
climate change. No runaway greenhouse effect or acid
oceans occurred during times of excessively high carbon
dioxide. During past glaciations, carbon dioxide was
higher than it is today. The non-scientific popular
political view is that humans change climate. Do we have
reason for concern about possible human-induced climate
change? This book’s 504 pages and over 2,300
references to peer-reviewed scientific literature and
other authoritative sources engagingly synthesize what
we know about the sun, earth, ice, water, and air.
Importantly, in a parallel to his 1994 book challenging
“creation science,” Telling Lies for God, Ian Plimer
describes Al Gore’s book and movie An Inconvenient
Truth as long on scientific “misrepresentations.”
“Trying to deal with these misrepresentations is
somewhat like trying to argue with creationists,” he
writes, “who misquote, concoct evidence, quote out of
context, ignore contrary evidence, and create evidence
ex nihilo.” |
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