For the record

This is the text of a real letter sent to the local newspaper:

Don’t make things worse by trying to make them better
Published: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 11:24 AM CDT
-
Around the year 985 the Vikings sailed to Greenland and set up a colony that initially thrived but then died off as the climate there changed from rising temperatures to falling temperatures. These people left historical records but had no thermometers with them so there is nothing for scientists to feed into their computers for drawing trend lines.
-
John Magnuson (mentioned in the June 25 story on the lake conference) has been able to compile records based on calendar data so the scientists can draw their trend lines with computers. These trend lines make it appear the temperatures around the planet are on the rise. What is missing from the data Magnuson has collected is why the temperatures are going up. Some people think it is a natural cycle and use Greenland as an example, and other people program computer simulations and claim that means CO2 is the cause. The result is a controversy.
-
Here’s a global warming test for you: What is the most important greenhouse gas? (Hint: you get it when you burn a fossil fuel). Correct answer: dihydrogen monoxide. The loose conspiracy between Big Science with its quest for government grants and Nobel prizes and Big Media in search of ratings and Pulitzer prizes, has created an obsession with carbon dioxide in spite of the fact dihydrogen monoxide impacts the greenhouse effect more than CO2.
-
If you believe the environmentalists, there are scientists out there called deniers who have been bought off by Exxon. But the real people we should be watching are the scientists who are on the take in the form of government grants. There is competition for research grant money. Getting your environmental scare into the media helps get more grant money. The alliance between the media and these scientists has almost created a positive feedback loop (getting more of something causes getting even more of it) like the global warming people talk about.This controversy involves what science can really tell us, religious beliefs, mass communications and the politics and economics of how other people want to spend your money.
-
A good way to learn more about all aspects of the controversy is “Climate Confusion” by Roy Spencer. He is a UW-Madison Ph.D. in meteorology who is a denier with a sense of humor. Dr. Spencer, the denier, surprisingly thinks the climate is currently warming. Spencer also claims when people say the science is all settled, it’s a sign it's not.
-
Finally, I should also add Big Oil has not paid me anything to write this and call water dihydrogen monoxide. My concern is people will make things worse in the name of making things better. One example is planting trees to sequester carbon. Pine trees planted in the northern hemisphere absorb light in the winter instead of reflecting light like snow does. That means they can help heat the planet and that is what planting them hopes to prevent in the first place.

(signed using TWW's real pen name)