But still it warms

Methane gas is now escaping from the Arctic permafrost.  Justin Gillis wrote in Saturday’s New York Times about how plants that have been frozen for 30,000 years are now melting and releasing carbon dioxide and methane, both greenhouse gases.  

As the earth warms, more gas will be released, causing even more warming.  We are entering a dangerous feedback cycle, in which warming causes the release of gases that increase warming.  Meanwhile the ice melts, so less of the sun’s rays are reflected back, which means more ice melts.

This is not some esoteric theory.  We can see climate change in hundreds of ways--changes in plant and animal distribution, shrinking of the Arctic ice cap, weather anomalies, drought and rainfall patterns disrupted.  We know global warming is occurring.  We have strong evidence, given the increase in greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution in the late 1700s, that human activity is causing this global warming.

In spite of that evidence, Bachman, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum, Paul, and Romney deny that global warming is a problem.  (The exception among Republican candidates is Huntsman, stuck in single digits.)  

I am reminded of what Galileo is reported to have said when he was put on trial for saying the earth moved around the sun.  To save his life, he said the earth was the center of the universe.  After he recanted, he is reported to have muttered under his breath, “But still it moves.”  I don’t care how many stupid Republican candidates deny global warming.  Temperatures are still getting warmer.