Anthropogenic Global Warming Denial

I was expecting Pro to make an argument for Resolution B in his opening statement, since he bears the burden of proof. Since he has not done so, I will present a brief prima facie case against the Resolution. I disclaim that by doing so, I in no way assume the burden of proof with regard to the resolution; Pro bears the responsibility to refute my case and to present a case in favor of the resolution.For purposes of this debate, it is stipulated that global warming is taking place. The instant question is, are humans a significant contributing factor?A) Carbon dioxide has three isotopes: 12C, 13C and 14C. These account for, respectively, 99%, 1%, and 1 trillionth of the CO2 in the atmosphere (14C being radioactive).Plants prefer 12C over 13C. The 13C:12C ratio in plants is about 2% lower than in the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels, which largely consist of ancient plants, thus results in a decrease in atmospheric 13C:12C ratio, which is exactly what we have been observing since the Industrial Revolution.[1]The only known source of carbon outgassing with such a low 13C:12C ratio is volcanic activity, and human activities release about 130 times the CO2 as volcanic activity every year.[2]B) The ratio of 14C:12C, as measured in tree ring data, steadily decreased from the Industrial Revolution until after World War II, during which the amount of 14C in the air was steady (after WW2, nuclear testing increased the 14C in the air). This is clear evidence that 12C increased during this period which coincided with industrialization.[3]By how much has it increased? From 1751 until 2006, humans have emitted an estimated 329,000,000,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. That's 329 billion. Moreover, about half of those emissions come from the last three decades.[4]C) Apart from fossil fuel burning, common sense dictates another source of increased CO2: since before 1800, land clearance has resulted in dramatically fewer plants in the world, which in turn results in less carbon absorbsion, which means more CO2 in the atmosphere. This image (http://bit.ly...) shows the estimated anthropogenic carbon sources from both land clearance and fossil fuel burning since about 1750.In light of A, B and C, there is no plausible explanation for the sharp amount of CO2 increase in the atmosphere other than human activities. So, how do we know that CO2 is a significant cause of the observed global warming?D) Satellites have been observing the amount of Earth's heat escaping into space, particularly at the wavelengths at which CO2 absorbs heat. That amount has decreased.[1] Surface measurements observe heat at those same wavelengths spreading downward to the surface.[5]E) A CO2-caused greenhouse effect would have certain consequences: for instance, that the planet would be warming faster during the night than during the day, that the stratosphere and ionosphere would be cooling, and that the tropopause (the boundary between troposphere and stratosphere) would be rising. All of these effects are presently being observed.[6][7][8][9]Although this debate does allow a separate pages for sources, there is sufficient room in this statement to list my sources below:[1] IPCC, "Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change," Solomon, S. et al., eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2007).[2] United States Geological Survey "Volcanic gases and their effects." Retrieved April 19, 2010 from USGS Web site: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov...[3] Ruddiman, W.F., Earth's Climate: Past and Future, 2nd. ed.. (W. H. Freeman & Co, 2008).[4] Boden, T.A., et al, "Global, regional, and national fossil-fuel co2 emissions." Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy (2009).[5] Wang, K. et al, "Global atmospheric downward longwave radiation over land surface under all-sky conditions from 1973 to 2008," Journal of Geophysical Research 114 (2009).[6] Alexander, L.V., et al, "Global observed changes in daily climate extremes of temperature and precipitationJ. Geophys. Res., 2006, 111, doi:10.1029/2005JD006290.[7] Jones, G.S, et al, "Causes of atmospheric temperature change 1960-2000: A combined attribution analysis," Geophysical Research Letters 30, 1228, 4 pp. (2003)[8] Santer, B.D., et al, "Contributions of Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing to Recent Tropopause Height Changes," Science 301 (2003), pp. 479-483.[9] Lastovicka, J., et al, "Global Change in the Upper Atmophere," Science 314 (2006), pp. 1253-1254.