A recent article in the Daily titled “Even with extreme cold temps, climate change is continuing” quotes Iowa State Professor Bill Gutowski. Gutowski, professor of geological and atmospheric dynamics and associate dean of College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was part of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which won a Nobel prize in 2007.

In the article, Gutowski states, “You have to step back and look at the behavior of the past few decades to really get a clearer sense of what the overall trend is.”

A few decades? Honestly? No, one must look at the overall perspective over millions of years to get a sense of what is going on.

A 2014 article in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests the Earth experienced its hottest weather millions of years ago during the Neoproterozoic period. Fifty six million years ago during the Paleocene-Eocene period, global temperatures were estimated as high as 73 degrees, nearly 15 degrees higher than current levels.

Further, evidence shows there have been at least five major ice ages on Earth with the most documented having occurred during the Cryogenian period leaving massive sheets of ice reaching to the equator. According to scientists, this massive ice age ended due to increased underground volcanic activity and perhaps a warmer solar cycle. In fact, global warming was instrumental in the retreat of the mile-thick sheet of ice that once covered Iowa and the upper midwest.

In conclusion, global warming is real; so is global cooling and to think one can see a “trend” based on a few decades of data is simply naive. In my opinion, Earth’s temperature is more likely affected by the tilt of the Earth’s axis as well as an increase or decrease in solar activity.