Gavi Kaufmann December 7, 2010 Period 5, Mrs.

Marsteller Science I heard on TV and the internet about man-made global warming. The scientific experts say that we put too much greenhouse gas, mostly carbon dioxide from cars and factories and things like that, into the atmosphere. They say that these gases trap the suns heat and if we do not cut back, then the world will get too hot and the climate will change. Bad things like floods and famines could happen. I was worried that it would be like the movie 2012 and the whole planet would be destroyed. But then I saw the movie The Great Global Warming Swindle as part of the class assignment and now Im not so sure what to believe. The scientists in the movie say that the climate of the world has always changed, sometimes its hotter and sometimes its colder. The movie said that this happens with or without man-made carbon dioxide. They even say that the world does not get hotter because of more carbon dioxide, but that there is more carbon dioxide when the world gets hotter. This is the opposite of what other scientists who believe in man-made global warming say. The scientists in the movie said that global warming and cooling happen mainly because of natural changes in the sun, ocean and clouds and that the other scientists ignore these factors and only look at carbon dioxide. The scientists who do not believe in man-made global warming say that mainstream climate research has gotten it wrong because there is more money in man-made climate change research and because it is now politically correct to support the idea of man-made global warming. The scientists in the movie also say that any scientist that doubts whether man-made climate change is real

is mocked. On the other side, the scientists in the movie say that the mainstream scientists change the data and models to fit their climate change theory. Finally, the movie says that forcing poor nations to only use green energy will hurt the poorest people in the world instead of helping them. I am most persuaded by the movie The Great Global Warming Swindle. The scientists interviewed include members of Greenpeace and other organizations that usually support the idea of man-made global warming. I am convinced that climate change is natural and goes in cycles. If there is warming, it is not unusual and temperatures were even hotter during the Medieval Warm Period, as they said in the movie. It seems that science is being misused and that this is more of a political issue than a scientific one. I am now less worried about global warming than I was before seeing this movie.