Morning Sentinel
Students hear different
take on global warming
By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Wednesday, April 25, 2007

WATERVILLE -- Retired physics professor Howard Hayden does not dispute that global warming is happening.

But Hayden is an unabashed contrarian when it comes to assigning blame for the phenomenon.

Sports utility vehicle owners are innocent, he told his audience of about 90 people, most of them students, at Colby College on Tuesday afternoon.

The culprits, he said, are more likely astronomic and solar events.

"You think SUVs are the cause of glaciers shrinking?" he said to his audience. "I don't think so."

Hayden, though, certainly could be blamed for heating up debate on global warming causation, as well as debate between Democratic and Republican students at Colby.

Colby Republicans were the ones who invited Hayden to speak at the college, a presentation that took place in the Diamond Building.

Nathaniel Betz of the Colby Republicans said their objective was simply to provide a balanced account of an important issue.

"We are not trying to make this a partisan thing," he said.

Henry Beck of the Colby Democrats, however, had a different view.

"At times it was more an anti-Al Gore presentation," Beck said, "than a scientific presentation."

Hayden did poke fun at Gore in the course of trying to debunk the arguments of "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore's book and movie on global warming.

"Don't believe what you hear out of Hollywood and Washington, D.C.," Hayden said.

Hayden, a physics professor for 32 years at the University of Connecticut, is an editor of a monthly newsletter called "The Energy Advocate."

He also is the author of the book "The Solar Fraud: Why Solar Energy Won't Run the World."

In his presentation, Hayden blended humor with computer-generated images of various graphs and charts on global warming and carbon dioxide levels over the centuries and millennia.

He argued that climatic history proves that Gore has the relationship between carbon dioxide concentration and global warming backwards.

A higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, he said, does not cause the Earth to be warmer.

Instead, he said, a warmer Earth causes the higher carbon dioxide levels.

"The sun heats up the Earth," he said, "and the oceans warm up and atmospheric carbon dioxide rises."

Hayden said humans' contribution to global carbon dioxide levels is virtually negligible.

After the presentation, a Colby student asked Hayden to explain his belief that liberal politicians and the media promote the theory that humans are causing global warming.

Hayden said: "I don't pretend to understand people's motivation. I really don't."

But Hayden also said recent cap and trade policies earmarking big carbon dioxide emitters tend to benefit Third World countries and penalize highly industrialized nations.

Jacob Roundtree, executive director of Colby Republicans, said Gore's view on global warming also meshes well with the environmentalist agenda.

"Look at the people predisposed to that global warming view," he said. "They happen to be stewards of the environment."

Roundtree said he is not against protecting the environment but opposes promoting false information to achieve that goal.

Beck, in turn, rebutted the arguments of Hayden and Roundtree.

In a statement e-mailed after the event, Beck said Colby Democrats "believe that global warming is real and that governments must work toward solutions. Howard Hayden suggested that climate change science is a conspiracy by Al Gore and foreign governments. We reject that notion. This was political event about the issue of global warming."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com


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Sam Prentice of Andover, CT
Apr 26, 2007 8:00 PM
JThompson and Brian Alves should share with us the truth Mother Gaia told them that real scientists haven't yet discerned. For instance, CO2 doesn't cause temperature increases, it lags behind them as an effect. The oceans store CO2 in cooler conditions and then release it into the atmosphere when they warm - this is the earth's way of providing fertilizer for plants during the periods of warmth that are conducive to growth.

Why can't global warm-ongers understand that increasing trace amounts of a trace gas only exerts a minor warming influence? CO2's warming capability is logarithmic yet the AGWers claim its effects are exponential in nature; if this is true then we've over-ruled a law of physics and discovered the elusive perpetual motion machine that generates more energy in output than what was initially input.

Humans only contribute 3% of the total going into the atmosphere each year so fractionally reducing what is already a miniscule contribution is nothing more than an exercise in handwaving.

JT and BA, please dispute these facts rather than just engagine in juvenile name calling otherwise it is you who don't look especially intelligent.report abuse
Leon Richard of Farmington, ME
Apr 25, 2007 6:00 PM
Oh, I didn't have room for this in my post yesterday, so here it is.

This man and those of us who don't argue with him have questioned the far left liberal thought monopoly. Therefore, we already know that we're "closed minded", "intolerant", "ignorant", "uneducated", "unintellectual", "simpletons", and "cerebral troglodytes". Did I forget anything?

Of course, if we were "open minded" maybe our brain would fall out on the ground, then we'd agree with Mr. Thompson.

Mr. Thompson. I, for one, would like to know what original research you have published on the topic of climate and global warming? What are your educational credentials, level of study? Is it within the sciences? Maybe a BS in English, sociology?

I have a masters of science degree. And although I have not studied, nor published, on climate and global warming, I have some level of education in the natural sciences, and I also know how to critically read a scientific study.

The true "scientists" involved in this are not sold on the idea that we all have to wipe ourselves with one sheet of toilet paper, and freeze to death in the dark, riding back and forth to work in a rollerskate with a battery operated motor on it that causes more environmental devastation and costs more than a H-1 Hummer to drive.

Open-minded my behind. The Global Warming crowd is as open minded as a bunch of cows that gather under a tree during a thunderstorm to keep out of the rain.

Get an original thought, and don't come around calling people names. You won't convince anyone by calling them an idiot. And only prove your own predisposition in that regard.report abuse
John Proulx of Hampton, VA
Apr 25, 2007 4:51 PM
I think Leon Richard has said it all for the most part. I'd just like someone to explain why the polar ice caps on Mars are melting, no SUVs or Republicans up there.report abuse
JR of waterville, ME
Apr 25, 2007 3:03 PM
I was at that event and that vain partisan Henry Beck question Professor Hayden as to what he believed to be the political motives behind Al Gore supporting the claim that Global Warming is caused by Human beings. And because the guy answere the little shmucks question Henry claims the event was political. Hayden answering Henry's question was the only political claim he made during the entire event.

The entirety of the presentation focused solely on what many scientists believe is causing global warming and how our planet has been much warmer in our recent past (the medieval warm period.). The only person who made this event political was Henry, Professor Hayden honorably stuck to the science of the matter except when prompted by that political opportunist to answer a political question and this journalist demonstrates his bias by closing this article with a statement from the Colby dems when it was the Colby Republicans that brought Professor Hayden in. report abuse
Doug Von Heeder of Las Vegas, NV
Apr 25, 2007 2:41 PM
Why is it that the "diverse" liberals always resort to some sort of personal offensive remark, and I quote:

"JThompson of Portland, ME
Apr 25, 2007 8:07 AM

Republicans certainly comprise the majority of the lower end of the intellectual spectrum. Global warming and its causes stopped being a subject of debate a long time ago, yet these simpletons continue to stand up on the tree stump and scream in defense of anything that is wasteful and destructive. These cerebral troglodytes represent a barrier to the future health of everyone.",

when someone disagrees with thier view on an issue. Not very "Politically Correct" there were we? If this is an example of a "diverse liberal open minded individual", than I am glad I am a "cerebral simpleton troglodyte".
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andy of Portland, ME
Apr 25, 2007 12:25 PM
I believe that Prof. Hayden is correct, that the current global warming is caused by changes in the sun's activity. Global warming and cooling has occurred for thousands of years and will likely continue for many more thousands of years regardless of what humans may do. Contrary to what some folks believe, this isn't a settled matter amongst scientists whose discipline is in physics, climate and weather. report abuse
Shlomit Auciello of Warren, ME
Apr 25, 2007 11:58 AM
It shouldn't matter whether our actions are the cause of sea-level rise or drastically altered weather patterns. We shouldn't have to wait for proof of our culpability in disaster before we start acting like grown-ups. Common sense should tell us that our 12 MPG toys are not worth the cost in resource depletion or pollution-related illness. Anyone who drives with her eyes open can see how wasteful it is to have millions of cars, one person in each, filling endless miles of pavement. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that all those acres of highway and parking lot are covering up a living, breathing planet, or that the tons of water running off those hard, black acres are carrying gallons of oil and other toxic chemicals into the earth that sustains us.

We tell our children that they must learn to prioritize. We condemn elected representatives who put the desire to please constituents ahead of the requirement to meet basic needs. We ask our school teachers to be models of social incorruptibility. And when the time comes to make small sacrifices, we find excuses.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who is at fault. What matters is who takes responsibility.report abuse
Brian Alves of Washington, ME
Apr 25, 2007 11:02 AM
What Mr. Hayden is failing to see is that it didn't take Al Gore to convince most of us that industrial CO2 pollution is causing global warming, though I'm thankful Mr. Gore got the word out as he did, in an extremely professional, fact-filled manner. It's true, the earth is always in flux. Ice core samples alone have taught us that. And now they're teaching us much more. Why, Mr. Hayden, did you stop short of revealing what the vast majority of us already know? Your argument reminds me of the denial that the cigarette companies tried to lead us to believe...that cigarette smoke is not harmful. Nine years in the E.R. have taught me differently. Sadly, your grandchildren will have to face what you utterly deny in the years to come. And shame on Colby College for not screening such bull dudu. The "other side" has had ample time to deny the truth, and they have used it. And that's why we are facing this dilemma today.report abuse
George Hofgren of Fairfield, ME
Apr 25, 2007 10:34 AM
Wow, VERY impressive move by Colby College and you, my local paper, to present an actual authority to our community on this topic.
Thank you for helping folks to see that what they need is understanding before conviction!

Since the state of Maine requires its teachers to periodically recertify, I suggest that the state make broadly available a required course on the milankovitch cycles and our current understanding of deglaciation in the context of this ice-age.

Armed with actual knowledge, standing upon the shoulders of giants, how can we (or our students) go wrong and not be distracted by hysteria when we have so much to regain in this counrty (or region)? Do we not employ our teachers to do asmuch? Let's first teach them.

Only then can we address our current needs as pertains to how we live and get about:
1. Clean diesel fuels, afterburners and emission systems.
2. Patience and understanding of current battery technology so as to be best positioned as a consumer base to promote very new, needed, industrial innovations for portable and home energy storage.
3. As Americans, a final acceptance that our future cannot merely be bought, but must be made in every litteral way. Where are our visionaries to lead us past 1950's tv-land america into the new world?

Last, let us Never Forget the transgresions we have committed against only ourselves in our fool-hardy, mob-rule, not-so-distant past: Segregation, ethnic cleansing, the civil war, the Salem witch burnings, and see that our own sense of rightness is more of the same.





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Laney of Augusta, ME
Apr 25, 2007 10:32 AM
Poor JThompson... so busy trying to dump stereotypes on Republicans that he doesn't see his own liberal ignorance. How typical. And also according to him, people who don't share his liberal viewpoint shouldn't even be allowed to speak. Democrats- the party embracing diversity (only when it agrees with them.)

What's realistic (regarding Global Warming) is something in the middle. Science has shown periods of the earth warming and cooling throughout time. "Global warming" isn't something that's suddenly appeared with SUVs and big corporations, no matter what the Democrats want you to believe. Global warming is a natural phenomenon- as are periods of Global cooling. And that's the sceintific truth (inconvenient as it is to Gore and his followers.)

That's not to say that we humans aren't making things worse- we should all be conscientious about what we do and try to be environmentally friendly, and also learn as much as we can about these topics.
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