All You Need to Know about Climate Change

Nice summary linked above. Putting aside "Climategate," which basically requires a do-over of the underlying data, computer analysis, and theoretical underpinnings of climate science before policy recommendations affecting the planet can be re-tabled, here are the key points:

Climate Changes. Short term trends don't trump the long term trends. We need to be prepared.

We are in a 400 year warming trend, with the most recent dip being the 1860's mini-ice age. Since the industrial revolution started about the same time, this is part of the confusion why the misinformed think human activity is causing warming.

Human activity accounts for less than 0.3% of all green house gases. About 1/3 of that is CO2, with the rest being gases like methane, and various nitrous oxides. Eliminating all of it would have no impact on the other 99.7%, which is naturally occurring.

The best available data suggests that atmosphere is at a lower level of CO2 today than historical norms.

Data also suggest that temperatures were 2C higher in the Medieval Warm Period, peaking in about the year 1200. This warming period was a golden age for many cultures - end of the European Dark Ages, Peak of Angkor Wat, Pre-Columbian Americas, Mongols (though you might not think that if you were Chinese to the south!) and on and on - I'd guess due to better crop yields around the world.

Of course, we shouldn't pump more pollutants into the atmosphere. Pollutants are inefficient waste. Clean coal is better than unclean coal. Nuclear Power is better than that, so long as you can deal with nuclear waste. Solar, Tidal, Geothermal, Hydro-electric, micro-power generation all all becoming better and lower cost with technology each day. Efficiency is also good for business.

Any of the above does not require any global treaties, Co2 carbon credits, cap and trade, UN committees, IPCC, nor even regulation on whether to use mercury-laden light bulbs vs. incandescent ones. Free market profit incentives, including your own utility bill, have done more to drive down emissions than any committee. Even better gas mileage cars (with all those electronics that make it possible that everyone is so worried about now) are driven mainly by consumers looking to economize - not government mandated fleet mileage requirements.

Human-caused global arming hysteria and fear mongering is completely unnecessary. Any attempt to impose change that take away individual freedoms due to such hysteria is morally reprehensible. Worse than carrying out the death penalty on someone who has an iron-clad DNA-based alibi.