Utah’s Contribution to Global Cooling

As a biology major and Legislator, I have a basic knowledge of science and politics. The global warming hysteria represents the absolute worst of both disciplines.

I do not have adequate data to make a conclusive determination regarding the effects of human activities on global warming – and neither does anyone else, no matter what degrees they hold or how many people they hold hands with in the echo chamber. Hypotheses, yes. Conclusions, not yet.

(Trust me; Utahns know about premature scientific conclusions.)

Global warming potentially is a huge deal; that being the case, we need to seriously study its causes – which means there needs to be plenty of room for scientists to hypothesize that human-induced warming theories are crap and to study other causes. That’s how science works. It is a very “hostile” discipline, where advances often are made by someone saying, “I think everyone else is dead wrong,” and, then, proving it. But the academy is snuffing out any “dissenting” research by the “deniers.”

Global warming is the Left’s evolution-issue – where the pre-determined conclusion dictates the data or even precludes data collection.

If they had their way, many on the Right would ban serious scientific study or political deliberation of evolutionary speciation. Why? Because – without adequate data – they (1) believe they know the correct answer or (2) are worried some other answer will be found.

Likewise, if they had their way, many on the Left would ban scientific study or political deliberation of human-induced global warming. Why? Because – without adequate data – they (1) believe they know the correct answer or (2) are worried some other answer will be found.

So, first off, people should take a deep breath, and let scientists study global warming from different perspectives. Okay, whatever; no one really cares what I think about that big issue.

But, here’s where I might have something substantive to offer. Regardless whether it is real from a scientific perspective, human-induced global warming is very real from a political perspective. For example, Gov. Huntsman met with Gov. Schwarzenegger and committed Utah to get on the eco-political bandwagon. This is troubling to legislators who are worried about the effect such measures could have on the State’s economy. (Note: while the article correctly identified that Sen. Stowell and Rep. Noel do some ranching and farming, it failed to mention that both have some pretty serious scientific backgrounds – a masters in chemical engineering for Dennis and PhD-level studies in biology, I believe it was, for Mike).

As noted here, Sen. Stowell and many others also are troubled by the unchecked invasion of cheat grass in the West. Cheat grass promotes fire cycles about 5 times more frequent than does native vegetation. Those frequent fires lead to more cheat grass, which in turns leads to even more fires, and on and on. Thus, if left unchecked, we can expect more-frequent and ever-bigger wildfires.

And that’s where the serious political solution might be found. If we aggressively go after cheat grass and re-establish native flora, we would:

1. restore the marvelous western lands to their rightful glory;
2. help animal species that rely on the native plant species;
3. greatly reduce the number and scope of western wildfires; and
4. reduce the carbon emissions from the unnatural fire cycle.

This would seem to be good from all angles.

This article states that the impact from wildfires equals 40% of fossil fuel emissions. This article argues that wildfire-related impacts are far greater than that. Why not look at reducing those emissions, in part, by restoring natural fire cycles in the West? Possibly placing the conclusion before the data collection, the first article surmises that global warming is leading to longer summers and, thus, more wildfires. Why not turn that around and consider another possibility? Are unnatural wildfires leading to global warming?

The start of the increase in atmospheric temperature coincides with cheat grass’s onslaught in the Western United States and with the slash-and-burn push of people into the tropical forests in other areas of the world. Add those things together, and you have an ugly suspect standing in the global warming lineup. Let’s take a closer look at that suspect.