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This thread is not covering itself in glory. There's a difference between weather and climate, and between one cold month and several years of record warmth.

I don't understand why people are in denial about this--the Earth is getting warmer. No one disagrees about that, no matter how cold it happens to be on a given day. The question here is whether there's anything humans can or should do about it, and Kyoto is obviously the wrong answer.

Global warming has NOTHING to do with the hurricane cycle in the Atlantic and there may well be nothing we can do to change it. Yet the science is completely clear on the fact that it's happening and we will feel its effects.

Everyone should be absolutely clear: the debate is about what we do in response, and whether we buy into every half-baked environmentalist plot to try to "do something!" It's not whether it's happening.

I always laugh when someone says "No one disagrees about that". Good job. EVERYBODY DISAGREES ABOUT THAT. Even the people who agree on the effect cannot agree about the cause.

1. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are increasing. Actual SCIENTIFIC studies are bearing this out.
2. Nobody knows how much is due to humans.
3. But, there is serious disagreement as to wether the Earth is actually getting warmer, or if it's only getting warmer in certain regions (specifically, urban areas) and that the numbers are being skewed to imply all of the Earth is getting warmer.
4. There is also serious disagreement about wether Earth is warming or cooling. In certain areas, glaciers are surging forward at incredible rates and ice shelves are thickening. Other areas show the opposite.

The real issue is that no serious scientific research or debate has addressed this. Nearly all of what we here is politics and junk-science. There are actually "scientists" who stand up and make statements that wouldn't stand the scrutiny of a junior high science class.

This thread is not covering itself in glory. There's a difference between weather and climate, and between one cold month and several years of record warmth.

But, but, Algore stood next to a dripping glaicer in July and said the melting proved global warming. (lib speak off)

This thread is not covering itself in glory. There's a difference between weather and climate, and between one cold month and several years of record warmth.

Correct.

I don't understand why people are in denial about this--the Earth is getting warmer. No one disagrees about that, no matter how cold it happens to be on a given day.

I'm afraid it's not exactly that simple. Saying "it's getting warmer" entirely depends on what time frame you're talking about. It's true that the last few years have seen a warming trend, but the second half of the 20th century was actually cooler than the first half of the 20th century, and the 20th century was significantly cooler than what's known as the "Medieval Optimum" period. The global temperature graph looks a lot like a seismograph or a brain scan, with the lines going dramatically up and down about every ten years or so.

there may well be nothing we can do to change it.

Nothing? Just pack it in? For one idea, consider man-made clouds, a white reflective levitating roof. We make snow on the ski slopes, why not a canopy of sun reflecting clouds where we want them? We can cost-effectively manage the sunlight so it heats the Earth more evenly reducing bad weather and hurricanes, while creating more fresh water and hydroelectric power.