Ed, Tweeters:

I think Ed hit this right on the money related to opinions expressed
on Tweeters.

Global warming does seem to exist, and analyses of average mean
temperatures over the last few decades supports the case that we are
amidst a general warming trend. And our CBCs show a tendency
toward a northward movement in wintering ranges for some of our
birds.

But the cause thereto seems much less clear. There seems to be an
overwhelmingly oppressive ideological dogmatism out there that
holds fast to the notion that Homo sapiens is the sole cause. Imagine
going into a convention of proponents of global warming-being-human-
caused and daring to suggest that other factors might also be involved.
You would surely be shouted down, at least. So much for
a diversity of opinions and scientific investigation of all views.

Sadly, a hysterical, emotional approach seems to take the place of a
scientific method in so much of the public discourse on the matter.

Apart from the cause, within the birding world, one would think there
would be at least one person daring enough to ask the unthinkable:
could the warming trend actually benefit some of the more widespread
species? Personally, I feel Snohomish County is a better place because
three W. Scrub-Jays managed to move north into the Everett count circle
this December (for the first time according to modern CBC data; this is
not to say I managed to see any of 'em yet). No, wrong, the heavy
orthodoxy dictates a black-and-white, one-size-fits-all official line--
it's all bad.

And even if one accepts at face value the contention that the warming
trend is solely Homo sapiens' doing, what then? Other than shutting
down or restricting our own manufacturers (which we have in fact been
doing for some time now), are we ready to launch missile strikes
against China's? We've regulated our own industry increasingly over
the decades, and now much of what we once had is located overseas,
outsourced, etc. In May 2009, an amazing story came out as many
Americans were feeling the pain of a harsh economic recession. China
had reportedly begun leading the world out of the economic recession.
This was a first in modern history of which I'm aware. Could there
just be a correlation, that China, now in many ways the world's
manufacturing center, was leading the world out of recession, while
at the same time owning a record level of the U.S. debt?

We have a lot less jobs and wealth from the manufacturing sector than
we once had--and a whole lot less wealth to spend on long-cherished
goals than we once had, like preservation of criticial and diminishing
habitat for endangered bird species, efforts to promote biodiversity in
remote 3rd World areas, environmental research, and others.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com