I guess I would place my self somewhere in the Lindzen camp. There are some climate changes going on, some are our doing, some are not. I guess I'm skeptical of some of the claims being made. The first being a group of 'scientist' that claimed that because we had done such a good job cleaning up the air that it was actually causing more global warming. I couldn't find the article that I had read, but to me they just seemed like a bunch of quack alarmists. Another topic that I've heard associated with climate change is the reversing of the poles. I would be curious what Valg has to say about the science surrounding this topic. Most of this is stuff that makes my head hurt. Control System Dynamics is enough head hurting for me. Also some of the climate models have been noticing a hole in the Central United States where the annual temperatures have actually fallen in the past one hundred years. This is actually due partially to the deforestation and the change to farm land. Farm crops are more reflective than trees so they absorb less heat. I'm pretty sure most enviromentalist would have a cow if somebody suggested that we deforest large areas so we could plant more reflective plants. Speaking of cows, I remember reports a few years ago that the increase in methane was actually due to an increase in cattle herds and there waste. The report stated that the amount of methane they generated was much larger than any current man-made source. The article at www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcsupply/6retiscie7.html talks of a retired scientist here at Iowa State that has been has been touting the effects of the moon on a drought pattern here in the midwest. I could find the articles for the hole and the cows by walking over to the Meterology department, but I'm too lazy. The quacks, well my brief search couldn't find the article, so I'm just chalk that up to internet lore.

That all be said, I have done a few things in my own life to 'do my part'. I've gradually changed all the lightbulbs in my house over to Compact Flor. I did this mostly because it will end up saving me money in the long run. I also try to do most of errands on my bike. I do this for two reasons, I'm cheap and gas is expensive, and I need the exercise. I plan to plant some more trees in my yard to increase the amount of shade that my house gets, but again, I don't want to have to run the air conditioner as much during the summer. Also I would like to have some shade so I can sit out on the porch and drink a beer and not get roasted.

I'm pretty sure Valg would agree with me here, before we take too many 'extreme' measures, find out where the money the people proposing the measures is coming from. I'm a bit skeptical of the things Lindzen says because he does get his money from Exxon. I would be curious how he would be accepted in the scientific community if he didn't get any money from Exxon. What do you think Valg?

Dave