You're begging a second question: even if global warming is real, is it on average a bad thing or not? My position is that it's a good thing, on the whole. It will increase the amount of habitable land on earth, increase agricultural productivity, and make the world, on average, a more pleasant place. The earth, compared with geological history, is still very cold, even ignoring the ice-ages which have been disturbingly frequent in our recent past. 9 million years ago, a mere instant of geological time, there were rhinoceri and camels roaming Nebraska. Even the most extreme projections don't forecast us reaching that level of warming.
In my opinion the real culprit is the evolution of type II photosynthesis, a hundred or so million years ago. That was what reduced atmospheric carbon dioxide down to its present very low levels. Back in the time of the dinosaurs, CO2 was probably close to a percent of the atmosphere.
we ought to be doing what we can to explore alternative energy sources and get ourselves weaned from dependency on fossil fuels, much of which are under the control of unstable and unfriendly governments.
There are good other reasons for looking at other fuel sources, I agree.
Also, some conservation would go a long way- there is no excuse for the excessive consumption patterns in this country. That is hardly "conservative" behavior.....
I'm not sure what you mean by 'excessive consumption patterns'. Who gets to say what's excessive? I live on a gravel road in the country, and I do a lot of outdoor stuff, so I drive a Jeep. I'd undoubtedly use less gas driving a Neon, but I'm willing to pay the extra for gas for the improvement in the way I live. Why shouldn't I?