Mitch might be onto something. Let's start with the Pinatubo eruption in June of 1991.

"Up to 800 people were killed and 100,000 became homeless following the eruptions, which climaxed with nine hours of eruption on June 15, 1991. On June 15, millions of tons of sulfur dioxide were discharged into the atmosphere, resulting in a decrease in the temperature worldwide over the next few years."

The article continues…

"In addition to the ash, Mount Pinatubo ejected between 15 and 30 million tons of sulfur dioxide gas. Sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere mixes with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to become sulfuric acid, which in turn triggers ozone depletion. Over 90% of the material released from the volcano was ejected during the nine hour eruption of June 15.

"The eruption plume of Mount Pinatubo's various gasses and ash reached high into the atmosphere within two hours of the eruption, attaining an altitude of 34 km (21 miles) high and over 400 km (250 miles) wide. This eruption was the largest disturbance of the stratosphere since the eruption of Krakatau in 1883 (but ten times larger than Mount St. Helens in 1980). The aerosol cloud spread around the earth in two weeks and covered the planet within a year. During 1992 and 1993, the Ozone hole over Antarctica reached an unprecedented size.

"The cloud over the earth reduced global temperatures. In 1992 and 1993, the average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere was reduced 0.5 to 0.6°C and the entire planet was cooled 0.4 to 0.5°C. The maximum reduction in global temperature occurred in August 1992 with a reduction of 0.73°C. The eruption is believed to have influenced such events as 1993 floods along the Mississippi river and the drought in the Sahel region of Africa. The United States experienced its third coldest and third wettest summer in 77 years during 1992."

(As an aside, the 1912 eruption of Mount Katmai "…was the largest in North America during this century." Quoted from that link, "The magnitude of the eruption can perhaps be best realized if one could imagine a similar outburst centered in New York City. All of Greater New York would be buried under from ten to fifteen feet of ash; Philadelphia would be covered by a foot of gray ash and would be in total darkness for sixty hours; Washington and Buffalo would receive a quarter of an inch of ash, with a shorter period of darkness. The sound of the explosion would be heard in Atlanta and St. Louis, and the fumes noticed as far away as Denver, San Antonio, and Jamaica." [Robert F. Griggs, National Geographic Magazine, 1917, v. 81 no. 1, p. 50])

A very quick search indicates that the 1994 Mt. Pinatubo eruption was secondary. This reference came up along the way, however: "Basic Information on Greenhouse and Related Gases." From that reference:

"The global growth rate is 1.6 ppm/year on average for the period 1983-2001. However, growth rates vary significantly interannually. The high growth rates in 1983, 1987/1988, 1994/1995 and 1997/1998 are associated with the warm events of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The anomalously strong El Niño event in 1997/1998 brought about worldwide high increases in 1998. The exceptionally low growth rates in 1992, including negative values for northern high and mid-latitudes, were caused by low global temperatures following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991."

It's pretty easy to believe—even 'prove'—that nature can do far more damage than man. Let us consider farting, for instance.

Ron Saikowski: The largest producer of greenhouse gases is the cattle industry. We, as organisms in the world, also produce sizeable amounts of greenhouse gases from our bodies. Mother Nature has always polluted and has found ways to clean up the pollutants.

Seems Ron might be onto something, too, as ammonia and methane are, in fact, considered to be greenhouse gases. (Here's an interesting piece on greenhouse gas basics. That reference calls methane a 'minor' greenhouse gas. How minor can it be, however, when during the week of June 12, 2001, "Australia was vaccinating sheep and cattle to prevent farting, which emits methane, a potent gas that contributes to global warming."?

That quote is from a fantastic timeline in Harper's Magazine: Events Related to Global Warming. This is definitely worth a read. Some excerpts:

"A study found that replanted forests absorb much less carbon dioxide than do natural forests."

"After a heavy lobbying campaign by the electric industry, President George W. Bush broke a campaign promise and decided not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, humiliating Christie Whitman, his EPA administrator, and effectively killing the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change. The President said that he was worried about an energy crisis and that he wasn't entirely convinced that global warming was real." Wait. It gets better…

"After the National Academy of Sciences, in a report requested by President Bush, confirmed that global warming is in fact real, the White House was forced to disappoint its stockholders in the petroleum industry and acknowledge that climate change is an 'issue that nations do need to deal with—all nations, industrialized nations, the United States, developing nations, as well.'"

"A group of NASA engineers and American astronomers proposed solving the problem of global warming by moving the entire Earth into another orbit, which they say would add another 6 billion years to the planet's working life. 'The technology is not at all far-fetched,' Dr. Greg Laughlin said. 'We don't need raw power to move Earth, we just require delicacy of planning and maneuvering.'" Huh. Yeah, I thought I just felt the earth move. Under my feet. I felt the sky tumbling down.

Just two more, and the rest of this timeline is up to you…

"The Environmental Protection Agency issued its first comprehensive report on the American environment but failed to give much attention to global warming; it was reported last week that White House officials edited the passages that had originally focused on the subject." Now there's a surprise.

"The World Meteorological Organization said that the extreme weather conditions observed this spring across the globe (very high temperatures in parts of Europe, 562 tornadoes in one month in the United States, a heat wave in India that killed at least 1,400 people) were strong evidence that global climate change is happening now and that the number of such extreme weather events can be expected to increase."

Obviously, checking-up on readers is not an easy thing, nor is it an exercise in brevity. So, let's call it a night. But first, a summary of the above.

1. Volcanic eruptions are bad. Really, really bad.
2. Farts are pretty bad, but—even with brats, beans, and a national holiday—not nearly as bad as volcanoes.
3. President Bush wasn't sure if global warming was real. His subsequent realization disappointed stockholders in the petroleum industry.
4. It may be wise to pay attention to the National Academy of Sciences and the World Meteorological Organization.
5. It may be unwise for the White House to edit documents. Of any kind. Ever.
6. Moving the planet is not—I repeat, not—a good idea. I don't care how many engineers and scientists believe otherwise.
7. No wonder Christie Whitman was cheesed off.
8. Replanted forests are kind of like clones. They're just not quite right.
9. George Carlin may be onto something: "The Planet is Fine, the People Are F****d."
10. According to my HP32SII, this blog item contains 347.678% more factual information than did the original article in USA Today.

Respectfully,
Mark "When in doubt, turn left!" Devlin