Debate: Is Global Warming Happening?
Side: Yes, we need to take action.

I am going to provide scientific articles that directly refute what Turpificatus is saying:A) For one thing, the atmosphere regulates the heat and cold of the earth to a heavy degree. This link, which I am using as a tongue-in-cheek (but true) reference illustrates a orbital body which is just as close to the sun as we are but lacks an atmosphere:http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/moontemp.shtmlThe moon's temperature varies from a couple hundred degree below zero to a couple hundred degrees above zero (Celcius). The Earth would go through about the same temperatures without our atmosphere. This is very, very basic science. B) You have to understand a couple things about science: they talk in scales that are very different from what we commonly understand. To a geologist 10,000 years is an extremely short period of time....but that is our history as a human civilization (when civilizations started to arise). The carbon being released into the atmosphere is going to raise global average temperatures by just a couple degrees. However, that has huge consequences for us.If the planet warms by twenty degrees we won't be able to survive as species. So you are right, the impact is small when speaking in climatological terms...but the impact is massive when you consider human civilization and human survival. http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sun-on-earth/glob-warm.htmlC) There was 27 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in 2004, one year. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2007-05-21-carbon-dioxide-emissions_N.htm?csp=34In one major eruption, a volcano can drop global temperatures by a few degrees. Those volcanic eruptions spew a few MILLION tons of byproducts into the atmosphere, at one time. I think you need to think harder on how much of an impact human beings are having on the earth. Our productive capacity has grown immensely in a short period of time, in 1980 we only spewed 18 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, a 60% increase in 24 years.http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/research/climate/future.phpD) There were quite a number of volcanic eruptions during the time-frame you are talking about. Scientists have long known that both the sun and volcanoes have an effect on the climate. Unfortunately for you, the sun has been on a decreasing energy trend (though there may be periodic upward spikes). http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/ research/1282246.html You are also conflating a couple of things about industrialization:Yes, it began in the 1890s and became a major force in the 1920s-30s. But this occurred mostly in the United States and Europe. The scale has been on the increase ever since, and as industrialization has increased (along with population) around the world the greater effect it's having. According to the above link, the sun and volcanoes were able to mask this warming up to a point, but now our CO2 and other greenhouse byproducts have increased beyond what these and other natural processes can counter. D2) That study you are citing works entirely against you. I am absolutely astounded that you do not understand what those scientists were saying, what politicians they are talking about. Those scientists have been interfered with by conservative politicians trying to keep people from hearing the truth about global warming. http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/hundreds-of-epa-scientists-0112.html From the article: ""OMB and the White House have, in some cases, compromised the integrity of EPA rules and policies; their influence, largely hidden from the public and driven by industry lobbying, has decreased the stringency of proposed regulations for non-scientific, political reasons," said a scientist from one of the agency's regional offices. "Because the real reasons can't be stated, the regulations contain a scientific rationale with little or no merit."I am appalled that you would misrepresent the article, that you would outright distort the truth behind it. The scientists are complaining that the White House has been censoring their findings about global warming, not that liberal politicians have been keeping them from telling people that it isn't real or man-made.You should be ashamed for either lying about these facts or not doing sufficient research and reading the articles you are talking about.E) You may want to have a word with NOAA and every single prestigious scientific and climate-science oriented body in North America and the world:http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html F) and G)http://www.livescience.com/globalwarming/ http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111511 http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/ http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/03/root18.html http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/ccr/ccp/http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/ It usually isn't considered propaganda when most independent scientists and scientific organizations in that particular field agree with most if not all of what is said. I think you need to do a little bit more research before you start getting overly upset about organizations saying such things about global warming. National Geographic has almost the entire scientific community behind it, what exactly do you have?