Global Warming article

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http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/new ... 9956.shtml

Scientist: Global warming needs study
March 18, 2005
mailto:Lynette Wilson@PensacolaNewsJournal.com


Roy Spencer stands with the minority with his theory on global warming.

He believes existing climate models are too simplistic to actually measure Earth's warming and that the theory is in its infancy and incapable of providing measurable estimates of future warming.

"My personal belief is that the atmosphere is so much more complex than we think it is," Spencer said at a lecture Thursday. "Investing in combating global warming, which as a theory is impossible to prove, diverts money from other purposes."

With a little science and a lot of opinion, Spencer gave his presentation, "Global Warming: One Scientist's View of the Science and Policy," as part of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition public lecture series sponsored by WUWF-TV and the Pensacola News Journal.

A research scientist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Spencer formerly directed research on the development and application of satellite microwave remote-sensing techniques for measuring global temperature, water vapor and precipitation at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

"The 'warming tendency,' everyone agrees will cause some change," Spencer said. "But it's always changing anyway."

For the most part, the packed crowd agreed with Spencer.

Joe A. Edmisten, an ecologist, thanked Spencer for having the courage to stand up for his minority opinion.

Without global warming, Edmisten believes, the Earth may have entered another Ice Age.

Judith Oppenheim, a chemical engineer, cautioned that scientists need to study what's actually happening and evoked the sea ice melting in the Antarctic as an example.

To which, Spencer, responded, "The trouble is we don't know how much is natural."

Spencer doesn't dispute that burning fossil fuels pollutes the environment, but he says pollution is a fact of life and that people need to decide how much they can live with.

It's the wealthy countries, where people are healthier and live longer, Spencer argues, that will invest in alternative energy sources.

Michael O'Donovan, of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, was careful to point out that studies confirm that for every dollar spent on reducing pollution, $5 is saved in health-care expenses.
©The Pensacola News Journal
March 18, 2005