Political Platform

Global Warming

For people who like a good argument, this topic certainly qualifies for you can find authoritative, scientific support on both sides. But first, I want to tell a story about a little bug. This bug has a life-span of 12-hours, from the moment of birth until the moment of death. The bug is born in a forest during the daytime, next to a rotten log. For this bug, his entire understand of the world is continue sunshine, for the bug has never seen a night. He looks at the log and knows that the rotten log is a part of the universe that was create and has always existed. He has not concept of a correlation between the green, tall tree nearby, and the rotten log next to him. This is his world. NOW, let’s consider man. We know that there are naturally occurring temperature cycles in the world, and that there has been “ice-ages” and that at one time the Sahara Desert was a lush, grassy savanna. But we know this only though the date we have collected and inductive and deductive reasoning. As an engineer, I want data. I want pertinent data that is applicable to the issue. Part of the challenge of an engineer is how to collect the relevant data. Ahh, here we have a problem, for we do not have sufficient data on the long-term temperature cycles of planet earth. And like the little bug, we only know what we experience, or in the case of man (more intelligent) what we can deduce. Yes, global warming is occurring and it has been conjectured that the cause if man-produced emissions of pollution and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Oh, don’t forget that plants need CO2. Because the temperature rise in the world (ocean temperature, land temperature, and air temperature) has risen more rapidly than we would have expected, many believe that it is man-caused. BUT, let’s not get irrationally fixated on this. What does this mean practically, and what, if anything should be do about it? I believe in “balance”. While I believe we don’t have sufficient data, I do believe that we should be responsible stewards of our environment. I also recognize that the United States cannot “save the world” because we don’t control the world. I believe that excessive rules and regulations are harmful to the citizens of the United States, and that while common sense measures are appropriate, let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot and hurt the American Citizen compared to the rest of the world. Too many government regulations!!!!