Generally speaking, one would have to expect Leonard Krishtalka, director of the Kansas University Museum of Natural History, (“Environmental Family Values,” Journal-World, Aug. 19) to be a source of wisdom and correct information.

But occasionally political bias and historical ignorance can mislead even the wise.

Krishtalka says our modern economy and our use of fossil fuels is destroying our environment. By driving cars and heating our homes we are causing “global warming.” We should stop this for “unless checked, global warming can wreak havoc on national economies, national security, agribusiness and human health.” We should replace our current sources of power with “clean, domestic, efficient, renewable and reliable energy sources.”

These charges are neither original nor true.

Let us leave aside the fact that neither Krishtalka, nor anybody else, knows how to rapidly replace coal, oil and gas with an alternative source of energy that would provide us the benefits we now enjoy. Let us focus instead on his attack on the sources of energy we do enjoy, and which are fundamental to our way of life.

Is our use of fossil fuels the cause of “global warming” ? And is “global warming” harmful to animal and plant life?

The answer to both these questions is: No.

As an evolutionary biologist, Krishtalka knows that the Earth has gone through many cycles of warming and cooling. He knows that the Earth has been much warmer than it is now. He knows that it has had much higher concentrations of atmospheric CO2 than it does now. And he knows that life has done just fine.

And neither these past warming periods nor the ice ages that followed them were created by our use of fossil fuels. To the contrary, it was these warm periods that created our present fossil fuels.

If he were an historian, rather than a biologist, Krishtalka would know that twice in the last 2,000 years the Earth has grown much warmer than it is today. These periods were known as the Roman Warm Period (circa 250 B.C. to 400A.D.) and the Medieval Warm Period (circa 850 A.D. to 1250 A.D.). He would also know that neither of these warm periods can be blamed on the excessive use of fossil fuels. The Industrial Revolution, which he sees as the source of our problems, did not begin until 1750 A.D.

Nor can the alternating cold spells, the Dark Ages (400 A.D. – 850 A.D.) and the Little Ice Age (circa 1250 A.D.-1850 A.D.) be blamed on excessive use of fossil fuels either.

What caused the Earth to warm up and the glaciers to melt during prehistoric times? What caused the Earth to warm up and the glaciers to melt during Roman and Medieval times? What made it possible for the Vikings to settle Iceland and Greenland and travel to North America between 850 and 1000 A.D.? And why did their culture die out and the glaciers return during the period 1250 AD to 1850 A.D.? Was it excessive use of fossil fuels? Obviously not.

Global warming is not caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming is not caused by man. Global warming is caused by the sun.

Global warming and global cooling are the result of fluctuations in the amount of energy coming from the sun. The sun is the real source of all the energy that makes plants and animals grow. This is basic Biology 1.

What Krishtalka seems to dislike is the fact that the world economy and our present standard of living is made possible by our use of fossil fuels. In concerted attack on family values, he and others ask us to abandon our present standard of living. They tell us our use of cheap fossil energy is warming the world and will destroy us. And they know this is not true.

Global warming is a natural phenomenon caused by the sun. It is not manmade, nor can it be corrected by man. This does not relieve us from a wise stewardship of our natural resources. But it does mean that we need not follow the political agenda of those who would deny us the most efficient and reliable forms of energy we now have because these do not conform to their dream.

— Arly Allen is a Lawrence resident.