When I first heard of global warming (caused by mankind’s activities) it raised a question: What caused the last 50 or so global
sea level changes that have been documented over the last 700 million years?

There were probably several times as many which were too small or short-lived to show up geologically on a global scale, but which could have been big enough to wreck havoc along coastal areas. If it were possible to age date older sediments with the same accuracy that we can date sedimentary rocks younger than 700 million years, we probably would see a similar pattern going back an additional one or two billion years before that.

Many of the better documented sea level changes have been linked directly to climate changes at times before there was any “mankind.” What caused those changes? If we cease burning all fossil fuels tomorrow morning the evidence indicates that we can expect continued global sea level and climate changes. My opinion is that the chances of man caused global warming are slim to none. I would love to cease burning fossil fuels, while maintaining my current standard of living. I would also love to leave the OPEC countries to themselves without the oil tie. Judging by their actions, they would love it even more!

I would absolutely love to have 100 percent of the energy I use produced by 100 percent “clean” sources. Meanwhile, let’s put some downward pressure on oil prices by drilling remaining U.S. petroleum reserves. Let’s also build some new refineries and put some downward pressure on petroleum product prices. Let’s continue developing renewable energy sources. And, by all means, let’s figure out what caused all the climate/sea level changes that occurred before there was a “mankind” so that we can have a chance to mitigate the effects of the next change; because it really is coming someday.

JACK MAYHEW
Fruita

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.