I have been following the climate change/global warming discussion with a great deal of interest because it is one of the areas that best exemplifies how "real science" is done, and I use it as an example for my physics, math, astronomy, and engineering students. My astronomy students, for example, play with a program called "Daisyworld" to gain a feel for how complex computer models can be for even simple systems. I introduce them to the wonderful web site "badastronomy.com" so they can see the difference between good, peer-reviewed, journal published research and "junk science." So here are my two cents: Scientists, more than most other segments of society, are trained to be data driven and skeptical of extraordinary claims. Occam's razor has long held sway. Unlike religion or other areas of human endeavor, truth and knowledge are elusive and not absolute. At the same time, scientists have a long history of being passionate about their work. Hey! They're human beings. Politicians have a long history of using whatever means are at their disposal for retaining or enhancing their office and authority. The cliche, I believe, is "fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly". So we shouldn't be surprised at the polemic pro and con or at the wide variety of opinions expressed by scientists and laymen alike. The other human trait I would bring into this discussion is the propensity to love a crisis. Alarmists have long been with us. I believe it is fair to say that they are nearly always wrong. Malthus had the world's population decimated by disease and starvation more than a century ago. He failed to predict the role of technology and the green revolution. (Most people don't know that the median scenarios of population growth by the UN and other worldwide futurists predicts growth will peak later this century and then decline!) When I was in high school back in the '60's, books about the impending ice age were common as were books about how fossil fuels would be depleted by the '90's. And so it goes. Is the world warming? Of course. The data is clear. Is it influenced by humans? Of course, although the extent of that influence is still widely debated. Have our computer models been accurate? Not very. They typically have predicted too much warming. Do we understand all of the factors that influence our earth's temperature? Not really. John Armstrong, an astrobiologist at WSU, during the course of a guest lecture at Northridge High School, stated that we are still not even sure if clouds provide positive or negative feedback for global warming!! It's time to end this lengthy epistle, since my prep period is nearly over. It's time to ask, "So what?" Here's what I tell my students: conserve in every way you reasonably can because you live on this planet. Be skeptical of doom and gloom forecasts. Read widely and on both sides of issues, always being careful to judge for yourself the validity and biases of the authors. Learn all you can about how human affairs are conducted, both now and historically. Seek to understand. I am proud to be associated with people in the amateur astronomy community such as yourselves because I think, for the most part, you do all these things. You speak with passion about things you care about and have learned a lot about. Your depth of care and understanding are evident in the emails that have been flying through our cyberspace. I think that's way cool! Sincerely, Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com Wayne A. Sumner Math/Physics/Astronomy/Engineering Boy's Tennis Coach Northridge High School Davis School District (801) 402-8610