Is this really fact, or theory? As recently as the mid 1970's some scientists were convinced that the world's climate was getting colder every year. It was reported that from 1890 to 1940 there was an increase in worldwide temperatures of 0.18^oF every 10 years. NASA reported that the average temperatures from 1945 to 1968 for the northern hemisphere had fallen by one-half degree F, and that temperatures in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. had averaged from one to four degrees cooler than in the preceding 30 years.¹

     In the article The Cooling World, by Peter Gwyne, Newsweek April 28, 1975, evidence for a cooling earth and the dire consequences were reported.

     The preceding sources also refer to the Little Ice Age which lasted from about 1300 to nearly 1900. This was an interesting event, although poorly understood with the reasons for the cool period and how widespread it was debated by many scientists. See references, below, for more information.

     This is not to say that man's misuse of the planet does not contribute to degradation of the earth or pollution of the air. Historical records clearly show how incautious use of the earth's resources have despoiled many parts of the earth. Islands that were once lushly covered with trees and other vegation are now wastelands due to people clear-cutting the forests. Although climate change undoubtedly caused the Sahara to become a desert after thousands of years, man's grazing of too many animals along with forest destruction most likely hastened the process.

Too Many People, Too Much Technology?
The population of the earth is today estimated at over 6,600,000,000—that's six billion, six hundred million!—and it's increasing at the rate of about three per second, source World Population. People are able to reshape the surface of the earth with amazing ease. If a population of only a few million 2,000 years ago could destroy entire islands and help deserts expand at faster than a natural pace, what are billions able to do today? Virgin forests are clear-cut at an alarming rate. Earth movers larger than the size of a house can flaten a mountain in a few weeks. Wells can suck water, oil and other resources from underground at an incomprehensible rate. Other machines can extract minerals from underground in enormous quantities. And the list could go on and on.

     Just because we can do something does not mean that we should do it. It is an indication that we do contribute to the degradation of the planet. However, this is not a report against progress and overpopulation, it is about scientific "facts". Throughout history mainstream scientists have frequently gotten it wrong. Scientists and philosophers through the centuries who were ostracised by their peers, ridiculed by the "experts" of the day, are now the foundation of scientific principles. The point here is that just because a majority of scientists say something is a fact or not, that this is right and that is wrong does not mean it is right. It is only right as they see it.

     So, 30 years ago many experts said the earth was cooling, and today many say that it is warming. Which is it? Or, is it neither? Both theories cannot be right. It could be that the theories, based on the same information, only interpreted differently, are only indicating "normal" fluctuations in the climate of the earth. Although they would have us believe so, the experts can not state with certainty exactly what happened and when it happened in geological times. They thought they had proof for the last several thousand years for dating events by the carbon-14 dating method only to learn that it was inaccurate. The scale was adjusted, but who can say for 100% certainty that it is correct now?

     If the experts have trouble dating events in relatively recent history, how can anyone be sure that they have the data and dates correct for events that happened over millions of years? Or, that it even was over millions of years?

     Man is obviously contributing to pollution of the atmosphere, but can it be stated as a fact that we are causing global warming?

     Listed at the end of this article are just a few references with more information on this subject. There are literally hundreds of more references supporting all, some or none of the information provided in this article. Do your own searches using your favorite Internet search engine to find many sites with fact, fictions, theories and more on these topics.

© 2006 Richard A. Johnson. All rights reserved.

¹Based on Strange Stories, Amazing Facts ©1976 The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Will the Ice Age Return?

Additional references:

• Ocean and Climate Change Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  
• Abrupt Climate Change, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  
• Little Ice Age, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
  

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