Global Warning

In response to "Bring it on" concerning global warming, I offer the following facts: Spikes in cold temperatures are caused by movement of the jet stream causing it to carry arctic air southward. Any satellite photo will clearly reveal that the polar ice caps are retreating at an alarming rate.

Scientists can and regularly do measure the elements in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide. Anybody with any common sense can understand that the world's carbon-based energy resources are finite.

Compounding the fact is the simple logic that the more resources we mine or pump out of the ground, the more difficult retrieving the remaining reserves will become until we reach a point where it will require a unit of energy to retrieve a unit of remaining resource, making further retrieval impossible.

I installed solar panels on my house in Pennsylvania 35 years ago. I got 93 percent of my hot water off those panels. Solar, both liquid and photo-voltaic, geothermal, wind power, tide power and fission or fusion atomic energy are the only foreseeable solutions to our long term energy needs.

Finally, you are also uninformed about Al Gore's home. The Gores converted their home to green energy several years ago, resulting in near zero carbon footprint. I will conclude by suggesting that the global warming naysayers out there spend a little less time listening to the conservative windbags on TV and radio and a little more time reading periodicals such as Scientific American and National Geographic.

Al Michl
Avon Park