I've been asked the question a million times. Do you believe there is any such thing as Global Warming?

     Knowing the split beliefs or views on the subject, my response is usually something like, "Don't ask the question, if you aren't prepared to hear the answer."

     But, the person questioning me, usually has to push just enough to get me going (once it was a newspaper reporter in a grocery store parking lot). The fun thing about a person's belief or view, is that, no matter what it is, it isn't wrong. That opens the door to a huge realm of possibilities in answering such a highly debated question. I mean, really Mr. Newspaper reporter man, if however many thousand years ago, a man really built an ark that stood the test of such an enourmous flood, and if a man really did part the red sea, and if man really did go to the moon, and half the population still believes that these things were all bullshit, then why, pray tell, would anyone believe what I have to say about such a controversial subject?

    "I'd really like to hear your views," he started making notes, "now more than ever."

     (sighhhhh.....) "Okay, fair enough. Here let me drop the tailgate on my truck. Have a seat. Turn on your tape recorder, stop writing and just listen."

     I'm not a scientist. I took five years of science in four years of highschool, but seeing as how these days High School Diplomas don't seem to count for much, we'll just ignore that. I've read National Geographic and Air and Space Smithsonian most my life but, those are just magazines that advertisers use to make money, so we'll just ignore that. The Environmental science I took in college doesn't really count because it didn't result in a specific science degree. So, just to set the record straight, I'm just me. That said, I'll give you my views.

     "Global Warming" is a phrase made up of two words. I feel sorry for those two words, because they seem to have taken one hell of a beating. It's not their fault they've become swear words. (I remove my sweatshirt on this October day and toss it into the back of the truck. A little sweat on my forehead, but my shirt sleeve will get that.)

     Now where was I? Oh yes....the warming thing. I'm pretty sure I read something somewhere, that stated, "Global Warming is just another marketing tactic being used to sell 'green' products. There is no ozone depletion and this type of thing has been going on since the beginning of time. Any changes in the atmosphere are mostly caused by Volcanoes, and natural events and has nothing to do with man."  (hang on to that dream)

     As of right now, the world population sits at 6,787,701,569 (more of course as people keep reading this, if they do). In the times in history when the planet's temperature affected polar melting and ocean currents, depths, etc. I'm curious as to what the human population factor was then. How many cars were they driving? How many Trucks, planes, factories, cities, etc. were there spewing out Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide? How fast were humans removing lumber from the rain forests? How many Nuclear reactors existed? How many atomic bomb tests were there. What was the recommended SPF factor on the sun screen they used 10,000 years ago?  Yeah, I know, these are questions and not answers, but sometimes the answers are in the questions. I'm just asking because, I'm not a scientist. I'd like to know about these things.

     Okay um...Fact: The ocean temperature has gotten warmer in the past 100 years. Fact: The Cyclonic activity in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans has gotten stronger over the past 2 decades. Fact: Areas of the North and South Pole that haven't been visible for centuries are now being discovered due to extreme polar melting. Fact: 850 New species of Insect and animal life discovered in Australia alone. (hmmm....ponder ponder....must be time to wake up.) Let me see.....any thing else of concern?  Oh..the earthquake thing.....yeah...been happening for millions of years, don't worry about it. As a matter of fact I recently wrote to the U.S. Geological Survey and asked if there was any chance that the melting ice and the increased ocean depths could be having an impact on the earthquakes and tsunami activity. I was assured that it was of no concern and did not affect the shifting of plates. (Oh really?....How much does water weigh? Taking it from one part of the planet and moving it to another, isn't a concern? The pressures aren't affected? Oh ....ok....well....I'm not a scientist so I'll just have to trust ya.) The next time a scientist is out golfing, if they took a portion of their golf ball and moved it to another area of their golf ball, I wonder if they'd be willing to use it. ------oops.....sorry....not a scientist..that wasn't fair.

   Okay, I know. I'm not really answering your question, Mr. Media guy. I'm sorry.....I get going off in these weird directions that have nothing to do with the original discussion. Now...where were we? Oh yes...warming thing.

    Um...nope....don't worry about it. It's no big deal. And heck....our kids are smart....if it is a concern....they'll think of something. (I now shed my button down shirt to just wearing my T-shirt. It's 10:00 am, at an elevation of 5000 feet, on October 1st in Denver, Colorado.)

    Okay, sorry about the sarcasm. Call it what you want. Weather patterns are changing. Maybe man's influence isn't affecting it and maybe it is. Maybe things are fine. Maybe in 100 years "the Global Warming scare" will be a part of history that man laughs about and wonders why there was ever a concern. Maybe the skin cancer statistics won't be any different. Maybe the prediction that at our current rate of population increase won't really be 9 billion 40 years from now. Maybe taking oil from hundreds or thousands of feet under the planet's surface and burning it out in the open air is no big deal and we can all just relax about it. (I wonder why there aren't ponds and lakes of nothing but crude. Why is it where it is? Mother nature probably didn't know what she was doing). Maybe we should all just forget the whole damn concern about this "global warming" thing.

    Maybe we'll win the lottery.