LETTERS: GLOBAL WARMING IS UNSUBSTANTIATED

To the editor:

Why is it that in a world so full of easily accessed information there are so many uninformed people? A recent letter to the editor talking about the ill effects of global warming and a follow-up letter complimenting that writer on his facts illustrate my point. There ain't no global warming. I talk that way when I'm irritated. Global temperatures have cooled the past 18 years -- 0.014 degree Celsius, to be exact. OK, 18 years is only a snapshot in time, but could this be proof that the increase in petroleum and other carbon-based fuels is actually cooling the globe? Of course not. But one thing is for sure: The world is certainly not getting warmer in these days of high fuel use.

Most of this global warming misinformation reached its zenith at the Kyoto summit a year ago where a treaty was drawn up between golf games by a herd of world leader wannabes. If this treaty is ratified by the U.S. Senate, then we are all in for some huge, unnecessary fuel-cost increases. The treaty legally binds a few countries like the United States to some very strict emissions controls, while underdeveloped nations like our neighbor to the south, Mexico, will have virtually no emissions standards.

In a speech at the Kyoto conference, Vice President Al Gore said, "The overwhelming balance of evidence and scientific opinion is that it is no longer a theory but now a fact that global warming is real." He went on to say that 2,500 scientists agreed and supported his claim. When asked who the 2,500 were, this is what was determined: According to atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer, president of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, "If one were to add up all contributors and reviewers listed, one would could about 2,100," -- not all of who were scientists. According to Dr. Singer, "The great majority of these are not conversant with the intricacies of atmospheric physics. Most are social scientists or just policy experts and government functionaries. In actuality, only 80 of the 2,500 scientists admitted to taking part in any way in the global-warming summary, and of the 80, only 11 had a hand in writing it."

Disturbed by the potential impact of the Kyoto treaty would have on the United States, Arthur B. Robinson, director of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, in cooperation with Frederick Seitz, one of America's premier scientists and past-president of the National Academy of Sciences and Rockefeller University, began circulating a Global Warming Petition that flatly denies the crisis scenario and firmly opposes the Kyoto climate accord.

In order to sign the petition, one must have a degree in a field that qualifies the signer to analyze relevant data pertaining to the global climate. At last county there were 18,000 signatures. Ninety-five percent of the signers hold doctorates in a suitable field.

Somebody is getting his leg pulled here. My money is on the 18,000 who know what they are talking about, not the 11 who gave our vice president some very misleading information. Unlike Sexgate, which we have heard too much about already, this is an issue that will live long after the current administration is gone if ratified by the U.S. Senate. Ratification of this accord signed by the White House just a few days ago will put the United States and every citizen at a competitive disadvantage. Write your U.S. senators, not the Southeast Missourian, and let them know your are outraged by the prospects of the Kyoto accord. Let them know that outrage has not died in Southeast Missouri and that we have had enough of this tomfoolerly.

Few things make me mad enough to light my hair on fire and run through the neighborhood yelling obscenities, but this global-warming stuff certainly gets me close. Emission standards and controls are fine, but the entire world needs to be on a level playing field. The Kyoto treaty is unnecessary, unfair and based on very faulty data. The next thing you know somebody will advocate draining all of the lakes and creating wetlands to grow trees in an effort to stem this impending doom. Hid the lighter fluid if that happens.

STAN CRADER

Jackson