[Gráinne]

I'm a geologist, so I'm coming at this from that angle. I'm also talking mostly about "global warming", a very controversial subject.

The Earth has always cooled and warmed for billions of years before humans. In fact, the Earth has been much warmer than it is now, and obviously it's been much cooler. The Earth has been gradually warming up since about 1850. Before that, from about 1300-1800 was a 500 year period called the "Little Ice Age", with cool summers, harsh winters, and a much wetter climate than we have now.

Interestingly, the cool, wet weather that set in about 1300 has been thought to contribute to poor health, thus making the people of Europe and Asia a sitting duck for the Black Plague. The Plague, which kept returning for many years after 1350, in turn contributed to social and economic changes that led to religious upheaval as the Catholic Church lost its hold on the people. Crop failures led to hunger and famine in some countries. When governments failed to address the needs and desperation of regular folks, there was revolution-in France, in the so-called Holy Roman Empire, and a little later on, in Russia and China. All these political upheavals had complicated reasons, but climate played a part.

I don't personally believe that man has had a lot to do with the current warming. This started about 1850, just before the Industrial Revolution (itself partly influenced by the mass moving of people from farm to cities), and this was in western Europe and part of America, much too small an area to all of a sudden warm up the Earth. We are in a natural cycle of the planet.

All this is not to say that we haven't hurt the planet-I recycle, and do what I can to support conservation. I just believe we have to be careful what sources of information we trust and consider all the scientific evidence. There's a lot of dubious information going around out there.