You can call me Al

Dear Congressman,

Today we should discuss a topic that seems to divide our country into camps of believers and non-believers, each stuck fast in their own view of the world and unable or unwilling to listen to the views of outside parties. The topic causes people to vehemently fight over who is speaking the truth and who is an ungainly heretic who will burn in hell for all eternity for speaking such nonsense.

I am speaking of course about "global warming".

Actually, global warming is the term we use here in America, but is probably a misnomer. In listening to the BBC World Service, I have noticed that the European term for this debated phenomina is "climate change". If we think about it, this probably is a better term, as there are continually streams of people who love to point out that all of this future doom and gloom business is bunk.

I watched Al Gore's movie "An Inconvient Truth" several years ago and came away finding it informative but, how would you say, a bit sensational. I felt like if his vision of the future of the planet came to be that I could stop using my oven, as I could very easily flash fry my veggies on the sidewalk outside my house using a wok.

But one thing did stick with me from his message. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere has increased significantly since the start of the industrial revolution. This is something that is measurable and verifiable.

So the question would be: what will be the ultimate effect of all this extra carbon? Will we get a greenhouse effect and work on our tans? Or will Mother Nature use reverse pschology and plunge us into the next ice age? Or will the weather just become more extreme? Or... will it be a status quo?

Many claim that the extra carbon is heating up the atmosphere in a kind of greenhouse effect. I have been in a greenhouse or two, but they don't really compare to the atmosphere of an entire planet.

However, I do know is that sticking your head in the sand is not an answer, even if you don't think there is a question.