I don’t know what’s scarier: the illusion of apocalyptic global warming being shoved down the public’s throat or the lack of professional and civil inquiry on the topic. Of course it is real; the temperature of the Earth has risen approximately one degree Celsius over the last 100 years. But at this slow rate, the ice caps will take thousands of years to melt away. This slow warming trend doesn’t mean life is going to disappear anytime soon.

The lack of inquiry in the scientific community on global warming is more of a crisis than the slow-moving phenomenon itself. It’s not enough to say that global warming is cyclical or that it’s man-made. Global weather includes hundreds of complex systems that even the most astute climatologists only slightly comprehend. Recently, I read an in-depth analysis on global warming studies, by Patrick J. Michaels, a climatologist and member of the Cato Institute, a non-profit public policy research foundation. In his 22-page report, he deflated dozens of faulty global warming studies that have been showing up in the media over the last decade.

Yet, the issue is so hyped up that a person risks a stigma of ignorance and foolishness for questioning global warming. I went to a speech given by a candidate for state congress in November and listened to him scoff at non-believers. This is how many people react to global warming doubts: If you don’t believe in global warming, then you must be stupid or enjoy polluting and destroying the environment.

I happen to be one of those people who are skeptical of the entire global warming scheme, and at the same time, I abhor people who carelessly pollute our environment. If I mention my skepticism in the academic world, people begin to look at me like I’m the one who is uninformed and paranoid.

Most of the mainstream media doesn’t mention that for thousands of years the temperatures in arctic regions such as Alaska and Siberia were 3 to 4 degrees warmer than the current temperatures. Instead, we hear misleading statistics about the rising temperature of the ocean which is supposedly melting oceanic glaciers around Antarctica. In truth, warmer waters create low-lying clouds over the southern polar continent. This results in more snowfall, which creates more ice build up than ice melting.

Proponents of the global warming scare are trying to use it to tell U.S. citizens how and when our private resources should be used, from our homes to our automobiles. They are also mandating huge fines for so-called carbon emissions as well as forcing businesses to use expensive global warming prevention technology. Businesses are going to find themselves driven to the ground, such as the poor farmer who will be taxed because his cows’ flatulence contributes to overall carbon emissions.

It should be clear what a farce the global warming scare is, when officials seriously start considering animal flatulence an issue. The time has come to stop the fear and coercion and start fighting it with questions and common sense.