Global Warming Hoax. A paper I wrote when I was 17.

In a world of deceit, trickery, lies, and manipulation, the general public has to always keep a look out for those who want to scam them.  Probably a majority of the public would say that they mistrust politicians the most and that what a politician says usually does not reflect what they do.  Hiding behind an idea – such as global warming, a program, or a policy to achieve other goals is a tried and true tactic of many politicians.  By manipulating the public to believe in the unproven theory of global warming, politicians use it as a disguise to raise taxes and enlarge government.

Global warming is the idea that contaminating the atmosphere with pollutants originating from humans – such as carbon dioxide – could result in the warming of the earth.  In turn, this warming may have many other disastrous effects.  Global warming is a theory, meaning it has not been proven for or against.  Data regarding global warming goes both ways.  For example…For example, Al Gore says in his book, Earth in the Balance, that “we are driving CO2 from its warm level of 300 to over 600 ppm with most of that change occurring since World War II” (Gore 93).  Thus, one would think that the earth’s temperature should have risen because of this.  However, in a different source, another author agrees that the ear’s average temperature has increased by a little less than a degree in the last century, but that most of that temperature increase occurred before World War II (Bailey 6).  These two “facts” do not comply with each other.

When it comes to election times, the issue of global warming always arises.  Why, one might ask?  Global warming, and all other environmental causes, seem to strike a chord with the American public, and politicians know that.  Everyone, from local politicians to the President of the United States, can use global warming to help them succeed in politics.  This phrase, “…and I will help to fight against global warming” has become  standard in the politicians’ guide to clichés.  So, will this politician fight against the theory of global warming?  He does not say “…and I will help find out if global warming is actually real, and if it is I will help to fight against it!”  Have these politicians decreased global warming?  Obviously the answer is who knows because global warming has not even been proven.

Why then do politicians keep employing this issue in their fiery speeches and in their platforms?  Because a politician who cares about the environment is more likely to get elected.  Once elected, it doesn’t really matter what the politician does because that politician has gotten the power he or she has been wanting.  So where does global warming make the most difference?  (No, it is not in the polar regions).  It makes a difference in the higher offices of the American government.  If these politicians can convince America that global warming is real and that it is a threat to us and to future generations, then these politicians can construct laws and regulations to have more control over America.  Al Gore articulates this in his own words, “Just as a democracy and market economics are important to a successful effort to restore the earth’s ecological balance, so is further extension of the rule of law” (Gore 352).  Al Gore has already started this “extension” because he strongly supported the Kyoto globally warming treaty that would form a strict limit on US carbon dioxide emissions and would force a drastic increase in the price of all fossil fuels.  If the Kyoto treaty took effect, then anybody who would buy heat in the winter would also pay Gore’s global warming tax (D’Agostino 5).  Obviously, Gore already has big plans for global warming.

Gore and other politicians are pushing global warming as something that is true and proven and would never mutter a word to the contrary.  Debates continue over many aspects of the theory of global warming.  One such debate involves speculation on whether polar ice is actually melting.  Gore conjectures that yes, it is melting and that “the consequences of a thinning cap could be disastrous” (Gore 23).  Others say that the glaciers in both the Antarctica and Greenland are accumulating ice (Bailey 6).  But all the public ever hears, in general, is the first of these two scenarios.  So, the politicians throw out one side of the story and they have the public behind them, what is their next step?  They will try to pass laws.  Gore advocates more laws and regulations.  For example, he declares “…a Virigin Materials Gee should be imposed… paper mills would be charged a materials fee on the basis of the percentage of their paper made from freshly cut trees as opposed to recycled pulp or paper” (Gore 349).  In a personal interview with a prominent business owner in St. Louis, MO, this owner foresees this as a big problem for him.  In his case, Gore’s plan would mean he would have to get recycled plastic for the products his company manufactures or else pay a fee.  This recycled plastic, the owner insists, would not only cost more but also would be a conglomeration of many plastics, thus making it a poorer and less safe product for the consumer at a greater cost.

These politicians, with global warming as their disguise, not only manipulate businesses they target the general public too.  Gore also believes that “…a CO2 tax… is rapidly becoming politically feasible” and that the “…government must establish higher mileage requirements for all cars and trucks sold in the United States” (Gore 349-350).  The product of these new laws, which may or may not be helping anything, would be to raise prices and inflation for the consumer.

The well-educated person should know that some scientists “…do not observe large surface warming… we detect significant surface cooling trends over the western Arctic Ocean during winter and autumn” (Bailey 6).  But because the average politician does not come out behind his or her disguise, the American public will not be hearing that fifteen years of very precise satellite data show that the planet has actually cooled by .13C (Bailey 6).  The public will only be hearing the one-sided stories, the half-facts, and probably lies.  Here lies the deceit.  Here lies the trickery.  Here likes the unadulterated manipulation that the American culture thrives on.  So, where is the truth?  Where is the honesty?  Where is the one person that will step out from behind the disguise and step up to the challenge of ending the manipulation?