Lorne Gunter is certainly not jumping on the global warming bandwagon, or at least not the argument that man-made carbon emissions are the reason for significant warming in the Arctic. Using the most recent issue of the scientific journal Nature as evidence, Gunter instead points the finger at tropical storms and atmostpheric current as the reason for the Arctic melt. He also mentions this is not the first time in history this phenomenon has occured.

In addition to being natural, this is also a cyclical phenomenon. It has happened before and will happen again. Big melts up north very likely occurred well before industrialization and will almost certainly recur periodically even if we cork all our factory stacks and shut off all our car engines. Maybe Arctic warming is just something the Earth does occasionally to let off steam in the tropics.

Are man-made emissions magnifying the warming? The Swedes think they may be, but their effect pales next to that of nature's own south-to-north heat conveyor.

Remember, too, amidst all the headlines about catastrophic Arctic warming, there are reliable satellite images of Arctic ice coverage going back only to 1979 and -- at least in the Western hemisphere -- reliable surface and air observations going back to just 1972. So-called "record" melting is only a record compared to the past 30 or 40 years.

Gunter concludes by stating:

My point is that coverage of global warming and climate change have become horribly one-sided. Every report about a disappearing tree tick or nasty bout of rainfall that seems to support the received wisdom is blared loud and wide, while stories that might undermine it are seldom given more than brief mention.

With all of the media attention given to global warming in the past year, it's easy to forget there are two sides of the coin and not everyone is entirely convinced we can reverse the effects of global warming by reducing our carbon footprint.

Hit the jump to read Gunter's editorial in its entirety.

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