Climate change is more complicated than believers and deniers would make people think, says villager Howard Marsh, a retired physicist who spoke Monday to members of The Villages Civil Discourse Club.
“In my opinion, both sides are wrong,” said Marsh, who worked for the U.S. Defense Department. “They’re both wedded to their agendas so strongly. There is no scientific discussion. There’s just arguments.”
The earth is warming and climate is charging, he said, but it is part of a cycle that has existed for 20,000 years.
Use of fossil fuels often is blamed for climate change and Marsh said it probably contributes to global warming. But warming also is part of a natural cycle and isn’t entirely due to fossil fuels.
Warming occurs because the earth is recovering from a little ice age that existed between 1300 and 1850. Eventually, the earth will reach a tipping point and begin to cool again, likely sometime after 2050, as it has in previous cycles, according to Marsh.
While pollution increases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Marsh said decaying vegetation has raised the level of carbon dioxide in the past.
Other factors in global warming rarely examined in the debate are clouds and ocean currents, he said. Clouds cool the earth by blocking the sun and ocean currents like the Gulf Stream spread warmth.
When global temperatures dipped slightly in 2000, Marsh said the data was changed and some warmer places were added. He also said some New York officials advocate prosecuting people who don’t believe that human activity is the chief cause of climate change.
He said reducing pollution is a worthy goal in itself, but will not stop climate change.
Instead of the political battle over global warming, he said efforts should focus on how we’re going to cope with the effects of the changing climate.
