Posted: Mar 03, 2010 9:34 AM TST
Updated: Mar 03, 2010 12:00 PM TST
Posted by: Allyson Rae
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - "Green it", "Mean it", or "Going Green", there are many phrases pushing a cleaner way of life these days. The push started years ago, and gained traction with former Vice President Al Gore's movie "The Inconvenient Truth", which said humans are responsible for global warming, but not everyone agrees.
"We the human species are confronting a planetary emergency," warns Gore.
Al Gore's name has become synonymous with global warming and it's won him a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for his documentary. Gore pressured the public, saying people are solely responsible for global warming, and in turn, "Go Green" mania was spawned.
"You know after the 2005 season much of the media went wild," said Dr. Steve Lyons at the recent Bahamas Hurricane Conference.
Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" has many opponents of which the public may not know.
"That data is being massaged, there is complete obstruction," says Ian Plimer of Adelaide University.
Dr. Bill Gray of Colorado State University says, "Because you get one upward trend recently, will mislead a lot of people."
"Temperatures just keep on going up," Gore's movie demands.
The earth is warming, but scientists remain divided on the cause. Kevin Pence of the NWS in Birmingham: "If we could agree, and we can't..."
"We have no clear idea what the attribution is to this," added Jim Kossin of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"And the same year that we had that spring of big hurricanes, we also hit an all time high of number of tornadoes in the United States," Gore claims.
The number of storm reports are increasing, but is it really global warming or are we just more aware of the storms? Pence says there is an increase of smaller, less destructive tornado reports within Alabama, but not the larger, stronger storms.
Pence also thinks technology plays a role. "We think that has to do with...folks having cameras on their cell phones, video recorders, education..."
So are our green efforts even making a positive impact? Montgomery residents have mixed opinions. Some say 'no', others says it's too late to make a difference.
The truth is, despite drastic green efforts, carbon dioxide may never go away because it's life cycle can be anywhere from 50 to 1,000 years.Read more...
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=12073172
