Global Warming

That global warming is occurring is evident. However, the questions are (1) why is it occurring?, (2) to what extent is it occurring?, and (3) is it even bad that it is occurring?

Why the Warming?

 * See also Climategate Emails

Historical Cyclical Warming
The Earth was much warmer than it is now, e.g. during a period that scientists would refer to as the Jurassic, and that Young-Earth Creationists (myself included) consider the Garden of Eden (for a discussion of Creationism, see my other primary site, BibleStrength.com). Even more recently, the Earth was warmer, during the Medieval Warming Period, which was followed by the Little Ice Age. As seen from the Climategate Emails, scientists involved in the peer-review process refused to consider papers that addressed the Medieval Warming Period (MWP) or the possibility of cyclical solar warming and went to considerable lengths to cover up evidence of the MWP.

Carbon Dioxide
A major source of increased warming is carbon dioxide. This is due in part to growing global population, now in excess of 6 billion. Humans breathe out cO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and breathe in h2o (Oxygen). As such it's very important that we maintain our rainforests and phytoplankton, which are both responsible for converting carbon dioxide to oxygen. However, there has been a disturbing degree of apathy about stopping destruction of phytoplankton and the rain forests, whereas emphasis has been instead on funding the green energy industry. This isn't particularly surprising, given that the green energy industry has been heavily subsidized by the U.S. Government in the past (although to be fair, so too has the oil & gas industry, depending on which party is in power). There is money in green energy subsidies, but not in stopping destruction of phytoplankton and rain forests.

Methane
Yet another major source of warming unrelated to corporate pollution is methane caused by farting cows (not a typo). Methane, by the way, is about 50 times more powerful in creating global warming than carbon dioxide is. Nor is China even close to being the worst country when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. That distinction belongs clearly to China, which produces over 25% already of global emissions (and its emissions are increasing), more than the U.S. and Europe combined, and is notoriously rebellious when it comes to obeying western demands.

Summary
Regardless of how many regulations the U.S. and Europe enact to stop greenhouse emissions, greenhouse gas emissions look likely to continue increasing because of Chinese stubbornness, growing global population, and yes, cow farts. So unless liberals intend to enact strict population controls and force the world to cut back on its cheeseburgers-which would doubtless result in another American Revolution-increased warming appears inevitable.

Is Warming Bad?
Liberal Democrats like to congregate on America's coasts, for whatever reason. The west coast (California, Washington, Oregon) is extremely liberal, as is much of the east coast (New York, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island). Even areas near major bodies of water like Hawaii and Illinois tend to be more liberal. By contrast, midwestern states are overwhelmingly Republican. As such, it's quite possible that much of the concern about global warming is actually driven by liberal fears that their oceanfront properties are going to be affected by rising sea levels as the ice caps melt.

However, warming could actually benefit the global population more than harm it. After all, large portions of the globe are covered in ice and snow, barely if at all habitable, and would become arable (useful for farming) as well as habitable if the world was to warm. Given overpopulation in places like China and India, warming might prove a solution that benefits those starving in 3rd-world countries.

Furthermore, from a Biblical perspective per the Canopy Theory, humans once lived centuries longer than they do today as the result of a greenhouse effect caused by increased atmospheric thickness and oxygen levels. That the atmosphere was indeed thicker with oxygen levels 50% higher than today's is now acknowledged, even though academia spent decades scoffing at Canopy Theory. The health benefits of modern hyperbaric chambers invented by Creationist Carl Baugh are now undeniable. As such, warming, if coinciding with a greenhouse environment caused by growth of rainforests under a more tropical Earth model, could produce health benefits.

Real Problems
The real problems, again, are destruction of phytoplankton and the rain forests which convert carbon dioxide into clean oxygen. Similarly, pollution and destruction of the ozone layer are likewise cause for concern. Warming itself should not be cause for concern, given how much warmer the Earth was in the past.

Could Democrats be Altering the Weather?
The U.S. has been capable of altering the weather for military and political impact since the 1960s when the U.S. altered Vietnam's monsoon season during the Vietnam War using cloud seeding in Operation Popeye. A similar project called Project Stormfury altered hurricanes, and ran from 1962-83. Although the U.S. afterwards officially halted experiments into weather warfare per the Environmental Modification Convention signed at Geneva in 1977 the accords only applied to use of weather modification for purposes of war-not domestic use.

As such, cloud seeding is still used today to alter the weather; and has recently been discovered to have application in created supercharged snowstorms. Ten states currently have cloud seeding programs. The NOAA has maintained a database of all federal government weather modification projects since 1972. Plans to "hack" Earth's weather through geoengineering were recently proposed, however worst-case scenarios of such weather modification include "freak weather conditions like monsoons, hurricanes and heatwaves that could kill thousands and increase global tensions."

Furthermore, many of the recent natural disasters have noticeably targeted southern and midwestern areas of the country through hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. As such, it is possible that Democrats, who control the scientific establishment, could be altering the weather for political purposes; e.g. to advance the global warming agenda, funnel money to the green energy industry, negatively impact Republican states in hopes of turning them blue, etc.

Prediction Problems
The scientific community once warmed of global cooling in the 1970s, then of global warming, and now, recognizing their constant problems in providing provable predictions of either, has simply adopted a broad umbrella term of 'Climate Change.' Al Gore, he of the billion dollar private jet and high-pollution mansion, predicted that the ice caps would have melted by now. Instead they grew in both size and volume.

Green Energy Isn't Green

 * See also Keystone Pipeline

The energy debate is not as clear-cut as the left would like to portray.

Palm Oil Biofuel the Major Source of Rainforest Deforestation
Palm oil production for use in European Union green energy biofuel is the leading cause of rainforest deforestation. Fortunately, the EU has just banned government subsidies for the industry, but has not banned it outright yet.

Solar and Wind Kill Thousands of Birds
Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that solar energy and wind turbines are not as environmentally friendly as has been portrayed. Wind turbines, even moreso than solar panels, kill numerous endangered birds each year (including the Bald Eagle, symbol of American Independence), which is why Obama even gave the industry an exemption from the Endangered Species Act.

Cheap Solar Panels Hurt the Environment
Furthermore, cheap solar panels are extremely hazardous to the environment, meaning that all that money the Obama administration poured into the solar industry could end up hurting the environment.

Ethanol Spills Worse Than Crude Oil
And ethanol? It's transported the same way crude oil is, meaning there's the same likelihood of oil spills. However, ethanol spills are proving even more dangerous to the environment than crude oil spills because crude oil mixes with water whereas crude oil floats on top of the water, so ethanol is harder and more expensive to clean up while producing more damage to the environment.

Natural Gas, Clean Fossil Fuel
Natural gas, despite being a fossil fuel, is proving one of the cleanest vehicle fuels.

Conclusion
Sensible protection of the environment, particularly rainforests and phytoplankton, is vital to preserving the human race. However, God made the Earth, like our bodies, more difficult to destroy than academics have given it credit for. Natural gas, a fossil fuel, holds promise as an automotive fuel source. I am generally more concerned with U.S. jobs than minor environmental impacts, we should be most concerned with human life. Any environmental regulation should be simplistic and based on clear and consistent research showing it to be absolutely necessary, with as little red tape obstructing business growth as possible. Furthermore, the oil and gas industry is highly profitable. Perhaps it would be best for taxpayers, given budget issues, if the industry funded its own pipelines in the future. I question whether either the oil and gas or green energy industries should be subsidized as much by taxpayers as has previously been the case.