Even If the Globe Isn't Warming, Time to Nix Oil

Summary

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It is premature to declare global warming dead ("Osama and Obama on global warming," Editorial, Tuesday). We know that carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere and that burning fossil fuel puts more carbon dioxide into the air. We don't understand the myriad interactions between carbon dioxide and tundra, rain forest, ocean and clouds. Nor do we understand the intervening variables of the earth's oscillations or solar cycles. It is clearly possible that we can have occasional cooler periods during a long-term warming.

But for the sake of argument, let's declare global warming dead and buried. Does that mean we can burn as much fossil fuel as we want? No, because we don't have as much fossil fuel as we want. America's oil production peaked 40 years ago, not because of concern about global warming, but because of depletion. Global oil discoveries also peaked more than 40 years ago, and for the past 30 years, we have been burning more oil than we are discovering. Peak oil isn't a theory - it is the inevitable result of using a non- renewable resource. Only the rate of depletion is in question.

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Even If the Globe Isn't Warming, Time to Nix Oil

Many oil experts beli...

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