Columnist Eugene Robinson, in his May 28 rant on climate change, says little to support the claim man is responsible for the supposed warming of the earth. Instead, he belittles and denigrates any opposed to his view.
Granted, the earth is warming and has been for more than 12,000 years. We are, after all, in a period known as an interglacial; the warm era between glaciations.
I collected the daily record highs and lows for each day of the year for Minneapolis. Plotting these temps revealed clusters of the record high (or low) that corresponded to the 11-year sunspot cycle.
And, half of the records occurred before 1950, and half after.
Natural events, such as volcanic eruptions, have a much greater effect on our weather than does man.
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When Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, its effects were felt worldwide. The following year became known as the year without a summer. When Mount Pinatubo erupted in the 1990s, world average temperatures fell an average of 3 degrees.
Climate is weather averaged during time. It always is changing. It is affected by our place in the universe, the variations of our sun, natural events on earth and to a small degree by our actions.
But our actions pale into insignificance when compared to the effect of a large volcanic eruption or a 1 percent change in solar radiation output.
John Bremer
Lake City
