Supreme Court on Global Warming

by Chuck Hall

Global warming is a hot topic these days (no pun intended). Scientists around the world agree that the Earth is heating up. That fact is not in question. The question is whether mankind is contributing to this temperature increase. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human activities have had “a discernible influence on the global climate and global warming is a serious problem that must be addressed immediately.” In fact, the vast majority of scientists agree that human activities have contributed greatly to global warming. There are a few dissenting scientists, but a survey of those who claim that human activities don’t influence global warming are mostly scientists whose specialties are outside of the field. Asking their opinion on global warming is a bit like asking a doctor of literature to treat your heart condition. At any rate, most of the dissenting scientists, what few there are, have a political agenda rather than an environmental one.

You may have heard that the Supreme Court is hearing a case concerning the EPA and global warming. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. At the crux of this case is whether or not carbon dioxide may be classified as a pollutant and whether the EPA has the right to declare it so or not so. The case was brought by twelve states against the Bush Administration for apparent violations of the Clean Air Act. Bush’s EPA has decided that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, do not contribute significantly to global warming.

"There's something of a consensus on warming, but not a consensus on how much is attributable to human activity," said Justice Antonin Scalia at the hearing.

The fact that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas is not in dispute. The planet Venus has an atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide, and although it is only a few million miles closer to the Sun than our Earth, its surface temperature averages around 800 degrees. This is due to the greenhouse effect caused by the carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.

The fact that the Earth is heating up is also not in dispute. The only question, as Scalia said, is how much humans are contributing to the problem. We know that fossil fuels cause carbon dioxide emissions. In my opinion, sitting back and doing nothing about carbon emissions while the planet continues to heat up is the moral equivalent of saying, “Oh well, the boat is sinking anyway, so what harm would it do if I drilled a few more holes in the side?”