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AL Gore's Scientific proof
   The dust jacket on Senator Albert Gore's 1992 Best seller Earth In the 
Balance, tells us that the vice-presidential nominee "is now convinced that 
the engines of human civilization have brought us to the brink of 
catastrophe." We are also told what we should do about it: "In this brave and 
provocative book, Gore argues that only a radical rethinking of our 
relationship with nature can save the earth's ecology." Then we are informed 
that "some politicians and busines leaders still insist  the threat isn't 
real." The commentary on this sensational come on finally aaures us,"Gore 
proves that iti is."
   So there you have it: The environmental champion of the U.S. Senate 
demonstrates in his 400 page book that we earthlings face catastrophe of our 
own doing. There is no doubt about the impending doom; Gore "proves' it.
Where's the proof?
   Speculation, wishful thinking,jumping to unwarranted conclusions, and 
reliance on self serving environmentalists do not contitute scientific proof. 
For an example of the Gore method, consider his account of a trip he made to 
the Antartic in 1988. He watched as a sample from a glacier revealed 
differences in the annual layers of ice formed over many years. One of the 
individuals in the party claimed that a particular layer was two decades old, 
and he identified it has being formed when "the U.S. COngress passed the 
clean air act."
   Gore gleafully noted that "even a small reduction in the amount of 
pollution" in the United States had affected the environment "in the remotest 
and least accessble place on earth." We are, therefore, expected to believe 
that the mere passage of the Clean Air Act, not any subsequent improvement in 
the air quality in our nation, was immediately detectable in the Antartic's 
ice formation.
   It gets worse. About increases in carbon dioxide in the air, Gore 
writes,"But it is clear tat doubling vcarbon dioxide  wil in fact increase 
global temperatures and in the process subject us to the risk of catastrophic 
changesin global climate patterns." Realize that thisisn't presented as 
conjecture, but as "fact."How much will temperatures rise? He first insists 
that drastic past climate alterations occurred "during temperature variations 
of only 1 to 2 degrees Centigrade," but "today, at the close of the twentieth 
century, we are in the process of altering global temperaures by up to three 
to four times that amount."
   The problem here is that  most scientists who have been asked about carbon 
dioxide agree that its level is increasing but contend that there is no proof 
whatsoever that the earth is warming because of it. Gore counters that "a 
small number of scientists" argue against his conclusions. But he maintains 
that the "insistence on complete certainity" about global warming is an 
effort to avoid acting "boldly,decisevely, and quickly, even before we know 
every last detail about the crisis."
   For some easily acessible details about the supposed global warming 
"crisis," the senator ought to avail himself of the logs containing tens of 
thousands of temperature readings taken all over the earth during the past 
100 years. Their data confirm that there is no global warming or cooling. Or 
he might turn to men like atmospheric and space physicist Dr. S. Fred Singer, 
who organized a group of scientists to counter Gore-style environmental 
radicalism. Calling the Gore thesis "exaggerated," Dr. Singer says, "It's 
wrong on many counts, and he should know better because we have told him so."
Al's easy answers.
   After detailing similarly catastrophic threats to mankind's future because 
of deforestation,air and water pollution,ozone depletion, and 
overpopulation,Gore offers his solution. Calling for a Global marshal Plan" 
and a "Strategic Environmental Initiative," he wants new taxes on 
oil,coal,minerals, and wood, new global environmental regulations,enforced 
population stabilization, new environmental treaties, new ways to to asses 
technology's effect on the environment, a phaseout of the internal combustion 
engine, and a long list of OTHER NEW GOVERNMENTAL POWERS(where is this 
authorized in our constitution?) His plans would cost at least $100 
Billion,seriously hamper industrial activity, and cost the jobs of hundreds 
of thousands.
    What Gore prescribes is virtual totalitarian government. Yet his book 
carries some vivid descriptions of the environmental devastation produced 
under total government control in the former communist nations of Roumania, 
Czechoslovakia, and Ukraine. He knows what total government did in that area 
of the world. ARE WE TO BELIEVE THAT HIS TYPE OF TOTALGOVERNMENT WOULD BRING 
DIFFERENT RESULTS?
   Early in EARTH IN THE BALANCE, Gore recalls peddling his environmental 
scare during the his 1988 run for the presidency.He found next to no interest 
in it and turned instead to "a familar list of what the insiders agree are 
'the issues.'" He's corect about "the insiders" making such decisions. ANd 
now he is riding the crest of a wave that intends to force more government on 
everyone, not through fear of communism, which we are told is no longer a 
threat, but through false claims about environmental matters. Al Gore's 
extremism has gone from beingoutside the insider approved issues to inside. 
Happily, many competent scientists are labelling his pitch a complete fraud.

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techie@cellar.org (William A Bacon)
The Cellar BBS - (215) 654-9184