A friend sent me a link to an OpEd piece in the Boston Globe entitled Where’s Global Warming? and I have to say I’m surprised. Why are people still so confused?

In my opinion, one of the biggest problems is wording. The term “global warming” is a misnomer. Scientists are really talking about “climate change” compared to modern norms.

Unfortunately, it’s too easy for people to hear “warming” and think it doesn’t apply, thereby dismissing the entire topic. It’s even easier for people to dismiss “climate change” because they don’t notice it themselves. I.e. “the weather doesn’t seem that different to me!” But thinking this way is short-sighted and foolish.

What we need to worry about is climate change to such a degree that our existence (or mode of existence) is threatened. Given what we know, it would probably happen (at least in part) as a result of man-made “greenhouse gasses” (molecules that hold large amounts of energy when heated/irradiated). But it could be related to all sorts of things. Is climate change also related to intensity or duration of wars? High-altitude flights? UFO visits in the middle of the night? Or, more seriously, geothermal events and/or oceanic patterns? Probably all of the above, but who knows?

Science is not a god. It is neither perfect nor exact. But it’s better than a raw opinion. Raw opinion and the biased speculation that “supported” it has confused man for ages. The world was once thought to be flat. The sun was once thought to orbit the earth. Etc. Etc. Etc. Fortunately we have developed a view of reality that is based on observation and logic: science. It’s not perfect, just as our ability to observe and our ability to rationalize logically are imperfect. But random skepticism is not a better choice.

As for Gore… well, who knows. But at least people are thinking about climate change now. That deserves some applause.