Global Warming: A Myth?

On Feb. 25, 2009, while testifying before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, a prominent Princeton physicist lambasted the idea of man-made global warming, calling the science behind the theory “mistaken” and branding the entire notion a myth.  The physicist, Will Happer, was backed by a consortium of 600 other scientists, and, truth be told, they may well be right.  It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that a well accepted scientific theory was upended by a growing minority—remember those crazy kooks who first proposed that sickness and disease were caused not by sinful behavior or noxious vapors but by tiny little microscopic things called “germs”?

Of course, the majority of scientists across the globe concur that global warming not only it happening, it is at least exacerbated (if not caused) by human behavior.  Far from being a small cabal of left-wing groups, organizations such as the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Geological Society of America, American Chemical Society, US National Academy of Sciences, 11 other national academies of sciences have reached that conclusion.  And it might be noted that Happer has been the recipient of funds from industries that stand to lose money if we turn toward renewable energy.

Still, Happer’s testimony was met with giddy cheers from many conservatives, who apparently felt comfortably justified in their skepticism.  But beyond the possibility of being right, what exactly is worth celebrating?  Whether or not earth’s human inhabitants are to blame for the sickness running through her veins, our planet, and our country, are in peril. 

For many of us, just attempting to wrap our heads around what is happening to our environment is difficult.  And if we can’t imagine what it means for our ecosystem to be failing, then how can we possibly act to save it?  I think analogies are great tools for understanding complex issues, so let’s say that the symptoms we see in the world around us—rapidly melting polar ice caps, increasingly frequent and violent storms, extinctions around the globe as animals fail to adjust quickly enough to changes in their local environments—are physical symptoms in your body.  That is, parts of your body are suffering and breaking down, and doing so quite rapidly—your finger- and toenails are falling off, your teeth are crumbling, you’re frequently dehydrated, and you have bouts of uncontrollable vomiting.   Justifiably alarmed, you want an expert opinion, and so (having excellent health insurance) you elect to be examined by a series of doctors.