well, it's an interesting question because there is evidence going both ways. obviously the earth's climate can change dramatically on it's own, because we have gone through several ice ages, and when things started warming up again, i'm sure if there had been anyone around to panic, then they would have been panicking. just a few decades ago, everyone was worried about global cooling. on the other side, you have more and more scientists saying that what is happening is a direct cause of humans, and since they are the ones conducting the studies and know a lot more about that sort of thing than me, i kind of tend to trust them. after all, the effects our pollution has on the environment are extremely visible. this is probably one of those questions that only time can answer for sure.

I think that it's part of a very long cycle. I just read an article in National Geographic that shows the last time this happened by tree ring dating was the Middle Ages.

A lot of people on this site seem to believe that - but most of them drive ridiculously uneconomical cars and moan about the cost of gas.

Many think that. Unfortunately, they also vote. We just have to keep pointing to the science -- it's well documented that the Earth is getting warmer, that we're responsible for most of that, and the consequences are unpredictable but probably bad.

The world is naturally changing...it's warming.

It is my understanding that the earth is in the warm end of a cycle, but on top of that, mankind is warming it up with increased greenhouse gases. The combination may prove to be disasterous.

No - it is not BS - it is happenning. And it is a natural cycle, we are currently cooler than average so we'd expect to see temperatures rising. When all these scientists changed their minds about us being about to enter an new ice-age (their scare in the 1960's) water vapour was quoted as a warming element in the atmosphere. The trees make most of the water vapour, but instead of cutting them down to reduce their warming effect the same people who go on about us being responsible for the heating say we have to protect them. Perhaps the trees are a natural feedback system to keep the temperature right - as temperatures go up, people need to cut down trees to get more land for food production which lowers the water vapour in the atmosphere and allows the earth to cool again.

Same as the War on Terror, War on Hunger, War on Drugs, War on Poverty, GLOBAL WARMING is a fantasy and manipulated to control (brainwash) societies around the globe. Governments, international bankers, and big corporations desire societies to live in panic. *** The best solution is to enjoy life. *** My 2 cents.

Of course. The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) will announce that more than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition rejecting claims of human-caused global warming. The purpose of OISM’s Petition Project is to demonstrate that the claim of “settled science” and an overwhelming “consensus” in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climate damage is wrong. No such consensus or settled science exists. As indicated by the petition text and signatory list, a very large number of American scientists reject this hypothesis. It is evident that 31,072 Americans with university degrees in science - including 9,021 PhDs, are not “a few.” Moreover, from the clear and strong petition statement that they have signed, it is evident that these 31,072 American scientists are not “skeptics.” Unfortunately, most people believe everything the mainstream news says without checking it out. As it turns out the Sun causes global warming! "Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun." Follow the money trail to the carbon-credit scam and you'll see one reason why the push is on to "obey the czar without question!" "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." ~M. Twain

Global warming is real, the changes are so gradual that we cannot notice...YET!

Uh, I don't get what the heck the difference is. If it is naturally warming up, it's warming up. So what? The solutions needed to survive are still at issue. What difference does it make, the cause?

It is a possibility and because we can't be certain either way we should still try our best to reduce "possible" negative impact. I had a discussion on that topic some time ago on another forum and was almost the only one who represented a similar view to you. Just in case you are curious, here are the links: I am the angry onion there too ;-) http://www.vegsoc.org.au/forum_messages.asp?Thread_ID=3322&Topic_ID=1 and http://www.vegsoc.org.au/forum_messages.asp?Thread_ID=5464&Topic_ID=12